June 30-July 6
China
Western governments expressed frustration at the conclusion of China’s Universal Periodic Review at the UN’s Human Rights Council, during which China rejected calls for greater freedoms in Hong Kong and for Uyghurs in Xinjiang. The council approved China’s UPR report, and the council's president said China had accepted nearly 70% of the more than 400 reform recommendations it received as part of the review. However, many of the recommendations were actually statements of praise from friendly governments such as Russia. China accused critics of interfering in its internal affairs.
New information posted on the websites of Sichuan judicial authorities provided an update on the case of Li Yan (李彦), a domestic abuse survivor in Sichuan who was convicted of killing her abusive husband in 2010 and narrowly escaped execution due to an outcry on her behalf by legal experts. The humanitarian organization Dui Hua, which advocates for Chinese prisoners, reported that Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court approved a seven-month sentence reduction for Li in September 2023. In 2017, her death penalty was commuted to a life sentence, and in 2021, her life sentence was commuted to a 25-year fixed-term sentence. Dui Hua said she is now due to be released in 2045, when she will be 74 years old.
The international law firm Dechert announced plans to close its Beijing and Hong Kong offices around the end of 2024. The firm’s website currently states that Dechert has 17 lawyers based in Hong Kong and Beijing, after laying off four lawyers in Hong Kong earlier this year. Latham & Watkins, Weil Gotshal & Manges, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Perkins Coie, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Winston & Strawn and Sidley Austin have all announced office closures in Greater China over the past year as deal activity and profits have fallen.
China accepted the forced repatriation of 116 Chinese who had migrated illegally to the United States, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. It was the first large repatriation from the US in five years. US border officials arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals on the southern border in 2023, ten times the 2022 figure. China has long resisted accepting back its citizens who migrate illegally.
Hong Kong
The government submitted a draft Protection of Critical Infrastructure (Computer System) Bill to the Legislative Council that would fine critical computer system operators up to HK$5 million for lapses in cybersecurity. The proposed bill would apply only to large companies and is expected to cover eight sectors: energy, information technology, banking and financial services, land transport, air transport, maritime, communications and broadcasting, and healthcare services.
A lawyer for former student activist Joshua Wong urged a court to sentence him lightly because he pleaded guilty and because he neither organized nor assisted in the unofficial primary election that prosecutors have characterized as a conspiracy to subvert the government. Wong also frequently rendered community services. In addition to Wong, 30 other democratic politicians and activists pleaded guilty and 14 were convicted for participating in the primary. The court is holding pre-sentencing hearings for the group in batches and is expected to hand down sentences in August.
Japan
The Supreme Court ruled that the former Eugenics Protection Law was unconstitutional and ordered the government to pay damages to 11 plaintiffs who were forcibly sterilized under the law during the 1950s through 1970s. The court’s ruling addressed five lawsuits initially filed in district courts in Osaka, Tokyo, Sendai, Kobe and Sapporo, and opens the door for more of the estimated 25,000 victims of the law to seek compensation.
Families who lost relatives when a sightseeing boat sank off Hokkaido in 2022 sued the company that operated the boat and its president. The relatives of 14 dead or missing passengers are seeking some ¥1.5 billion ($9.2 million) in damages. Altogether, 20 persons were killed and six were missing.
The national government made public three more alleged cases of sexual abuse by US servicemen in Okinawa Prefecture, saying the cases occurred in February 2023, August 2023, and January 2024. None of the suspects have been formally charged. Two other cases of alleged sexual assault by US airmen during 2024 were disclosed within the past few weeks.
Koreas
The Busan District Court gave a 15-year prison term to a man who stabbed South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung in the neck while Lee campaigned for April’s parliamentary election. The attacker was convicted of attempted murder and violating the election law. Police said he had stalked Lee at previous rallies and planned the attack for months with the goal of ensuring Lee did not become president. It was the the worst assault on a politician in the country in nearly two decades.
The opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) put forward legislation to impeach the head of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and four prosecutors who have investigated cases involving DPK politicians, including former party chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung. The KCC chair submitted his resignation before his impeachment could be put to a vote. The People Power Party of President Yoon Suk Yeol and the DPK, which controls the legislature, have accused each other of corruption and power abuses.
The South Korean government said it is creating a new ministry to take action to reverse the country’s falling birth rate, which President Yoon Suk Yeol has called a national emergency. It will submit amendments to the Government Organization Act and the Framework Act on Low Birth Rate in an Aging Society to the legislature before the end of July. South Korea has the lowest fertility rate in the world. The high cost of living and unequal gender roles are often cited as factors.
Taiwan
Opposition lawmakers created a task force to investigate whether the government influenced the National Communications Commission to approve Mirror Media’s application to establish a new television station, Mirror TV. It was their first use of the new powers they granted themselves in June under controversial amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power.
The Constitutional Court scheduled a preliminary hearing for July 10 in response to petitions from legislators of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) challenging the constitutionality of the amendments to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power and seeking a temporary injunction to block implementation. The court scheduled oral arguments for August 6. Taiwan has a divided government, with the DPP holding the presidency and Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party controlling the legislature.
Prosecutors said they were investigating bribery allegations against Cheng Wen-tsan, head of the Straits Exchange Foundation, a private body that serves as a communications channel with mainland China. Cheng was mayor from 2014-2022 of the city of Taoyuan, where prosecutors summoned Cheng for questioning. Cheng is a member of the Democratic Progressive Party.
The opposition Kuomintang Party (KMT) proposed amending the the Offshore Islands Development Act to allow mainland Chinese contractors to bid for government-funded infrastructure projects in outlying islands, recruit Chinese specialists to operate construction machinery, and access Taiwan’s restricted territorial waters. The Democratic Progressive Party said the move would undermine national security.
Civic groups and advocates for new immigrants and foreign migrant workers urged legislators to hold public hearings before voting on a proposed New Residents Rights Protection Law (新住民權益保障法). Among the objections: disagreement over which “new residents” should be protected and whether the law would promote assimilation. Taiwan has experienced an influx of foreign workers in recent years as its own population growth has slowed.