June 16-22
China
The Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of State Security, and Ministry of Justice jointly issued guidelines for punishing persons deemed to be advocating Taiwan separatism. The Opinion on Legally Punishing the Crimes of Obstinate “Taiwan Independence” Advocates Splitting the Nation and Inciting Splittism (关于依法惩治“台独”顽固分子分裂国家、煽动分裂国家犯罪的意见) spells out specific behavior that would constitute the crime of secession or inciting secession. Examples include promoting Taiwan's entry into international organizations where statehood is a condition, conducting “external official exchanges,” and suppressing parties, groups, or persons who promote Taiwan’s unification with the mainland. An official from the Ministry of Public Security said the punishment in extreme cases could be the death penalty. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said Beijing lacks legal jurisdiction over Taiwan and Taiwanese persons and said the Opinion could be detrimental to cross-Strait exchanges.
The Jilin Provincial High Court reheard arguments in a 1991 murder case with the original defendant, Liu Xuefeng, back in the dock. Liu confessed and was convicted in 1991, but maintained that his confession was induced by torture. He was released in 2009 but continued pushing for a new trial. In 2018, the Jilin Province Procuratorate asked the high court to conduct a retrial, saying that in its opinion, the evidence in the original trial was insufficient.
Social media posters expressed outrage over a decision by the Xi’an Municipal Justice Bureau to suspend a lawyer’s license for six months – but not press criminal charges – after the lawyer was found to have paid a bribe of RMB 300,000 to the wife of a former Supreme People’s Court judge. The Justice Bureau announced the suspension on its website, saying that Liu Tao of Zunben Law Firm had been trying to influence the outcome of a lawsuit. It said the amount involved was too small to prosecute Liu.
Hong Kong
A district court sentenced 17 people to prison for their roles in the standoff between police and protesters at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2019. Those sentenced had attempted to flee the campus by climbing down ropes from a high footbridge. The charges against the 17 included a mix of rioting, perverting the course of justice, and dangerous driving. Some pleaded guilty while others were convicted. The sentences ranged from one year and eight months to five years and 10 months.
A Hong Kong official said the government has not forgotten its legal mandate to introduce universal direct elections for chief executive and legislators, but first will monitor the impact of the 2021 changes to the electoral system. Those changes made it harder to run for office and reduced direct voting.
Macau immigration denied entry to a Hong Kong journalism scholar who had come to participate in a workshop. It said there were indications that she “was engaged in activities that posed a threat to public safety or public order.”
Japan
The upper house of the Diet revised the political funds control law to increase mandatory information disclosure about such funds and require lawmakers to confirm the contents of their political funds reports. The goal is to prevent the funds from being used in violation of campaign finance and election laws.
The upper house of the Diet approved an overhaul of the much-criticized technical intern program for foreign nationals in an effort to better address worsening labor shortages. The revisions, planned to take effect by 2027, aim to help low-skill foreign interns gain needed skills and encourage them to stay longer. Foreign interns will be allowed to switch employers under certain conditions, which is currently banned. The government will be allowed to revoke permanent residence status for those who deliberately fail to pay taxes.
The Supreme Court ruled that a transgender woman is the legal parent of a child who was born to her female partner using sperm frozen before her transition, even though the birth took place after the transition. The court said that failure to legally recognize the parental relationship would deny the child’s rights to financial support and inheritance.
Koreas
The South Korean Supreme Court declined to issue an injunction halting the government’s plan to increase the number of students in medical schools. Junior doctors across the country have been striking since late February to protest the planned enrollment increase, and members of the medical community and students have filed about 20 lawsuits seeking to halt it. This was the first case to reach the Supreme Court, and the outcome will likely affect the pending cases.
The National Action for Judicial Justice, a South Korean civic group, filed a complaint against the chief of the Anti-corruption and Civic Rights Commission after it closed a months-long investigation into the first lady’s acceptance of a gift luxury bag. The commission said last week that the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act does not provide any punishment for spouses of public officials.
South Korean prosecutors began investigating allegations that the wife of former President Moon Jae-in (of the Democratic Party) spent 400 million won ($290,000) in state funds on her solo trip to India in 2018. The accusation came from a Seoul councilor affiliated with the ruling People Power Party, who also has accused the former first lady of accepting a luxury jacket and taking swimming lessons from presidential guards.
Taiwan
Legislators voted 62 to 51 to reject the Executive Yuan’s request to review amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) and the Criminal Code that controversially expand the legislature’s powers of investigation. The Executive Yuan is now required to accept the bills as law. Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said the government could ask the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the legislation and issue a temporary injunction against enforcing the amendments pending that ruling.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office charged Lee Chen Miao-yin (李陳妙音), a real-estate developer, with violating the Banking Act and defrauding investors out of more than NT$500 million (US$15.4 million). Lee, her husband, and two other persons allegedly solicited US$16.5 million in deposits from 88 persons during 2016 to 2018 to develop a hotel-condo project in Bangkok, but failed to pay the promised high returns. Lee was repatriated from Thailand to Taiwan after two co-conspirators were convicted.