January 5-11
China
A Shanghai court sentenced documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin, also known as Plato, to three and a half years in prison for releasing a documentary showing the November 2022 street protests against the government’s COVID-19 lock-down policies, known as the “white paper” protests. The documentary, titled “Urumqi Middle Road” in Chinese and “Not the Foreign Force” in English, includes Chen’s own footage of protests in Shanghai and video published by other netizens. Chen was detained the day after posting his documentary on YouTube, X, and other platforms. He was convicted of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
The Supreme People's Court ordered lower courts to increase the penalties for fraud and corruption in scientific and technological research, including specifically: embezzlement or bribery related to the country's key projects, core industries, major scientific and technological programs, or innovation rewards; falsifying or tampering with experimental data; fabricating patents; hiring others to write papers; and abuse of power, malpractice, or dereliction of duty in scientific and technological work. Courts also should increase their punitive damages awards in intellectual property infringement cases.
Thai and Chinese authorities announced the rescue of a Chinese actor who said he was kidnapped in Thailand and taken to a telecom scam center in Myanmar, where he was trained to scam people over the phone. Wang Xing said he flew to Bangkok to pursue an offer of an acting job for a major Thai entertainment company but was driven across the border to Myanmar. Chinese criminal gangs are reported to operate out of large walled compounds in that region; see last week’s TWIAL for a report about one such gang that is now being prosecuted. The families of more than 600 missing Chinese who are feared to be held in the compounds signed a petition urging the government to rescue them, too.
Authorities appear to have suppressed violent protests in the city of Pucheng in Shaanxi Province. Protesters who alleged a cover-up about the death of a student at the Pucheng Vocational Education Centre reportedly stormed into a building at the school and damaged offices. The student’s body was found on the ground at the foot of his dormitory on January 2.
Trial began in a Suzhou court of a man accused of attacking a Japanese mother and child who were waiting for a school bus, then fatally stabbing a Chinese bus attendant who came to their assistance. The defendant is described as an unemployed man in his 50s. His motivation has not been disclosed.
The US Department of Defense added several Chinese technology companies, including gaming and social media giant Tencent and battery maker CATL, to a list of businesses it says work with China's military. Inclusion on the Section 1260H list does not mean US companies cannot do business with the Chinese companies. Ford plans to license technology from CATL at the battery plant it is building in Michigan.
Hong Kong
A 19-year-old student pleaded not guilty to the charge of insulting China's national anthem. The student was arrested during a World Cup qualifier football match in June 2024 and formally charged in November for turning his back to the field and not standing during the playing of the Chinese national anthem. The 2020 National Anthem Law says persons must "stand solemnly" and "not behave in a way disrespectful to the anthem." Violators may be fined up to HK$50,000 dollars and be imprisoned for three years.
Judges at the Court of Final Appeal heard arguments by three leading members of the former Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China that they did not receive a fair trial when they were convicted of refusing to providing information about the alliance to the national security police. Prosecutors won their conviction by arguing that the alliance was a “foreign agent,” and therefore its members were legally required to comply with police requests for information. But the activists argued that the evidence presented at trial was heavily redacted, and prosecutors had refused to even say whose agent the defendants were supposed to be. During the appeal hearing, the judges questioned whether information demands could be made of entities merely suspected of being a foreign agent.
Resuming testimony in his national security trial, former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai told the court that his suggestion Taiwan should join the Quad did not mean he was advocating for Taiwan’s independence. Lai’s trial on charges of conspiring to collude with foreign forces began in December 2023, and he began giving testimony in November 2024. The court recessed for several weeks at year end. Judges are closely questioning him about the meaning of dozens of social media posts and published remarks.
Japan
Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel, whose $14.3 billion merger was blocked by President Biden on Jan. 3, 2025, filed lawsuits against the US government, Lourenco Goncalves, CEO of rival steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs, and David McCall, president of the U.S. Steelworkers union. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel accused the White House of stopping the deal for political reasons in violation of due process, and accused Goncalves and McCall of engaging in anti-competitive and racketeering activities. Biden said he acted in the interests of national security.
Koreas
Law enforcement authorities from multiple agencies met to discuss making a second attempt to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched imposition of martial law. Acting President Choi Sang-mok urged authorities to do their best to prevent civilian injuries or physical conflict between government agencies. The head of the Presidential Security Services (PSS), Park Chong-jun, who used his forces to block Yoon’s arrest on Jan. 3, resigned and appeared before investigators for questioning on charges of obstructing official duties. It was not clear if Park’s deputy, who will serve as acting head of the PSS, will continue to maintain the cordon protecting Yoon. The PSS further fortified the presidential compound this week with barbed wire and barricades.
The South Korean prosecutor's special investigation team indicted the commander of the Defense Intelligence Agency for playing an "integral" role in a insurrection and abuse of power. The commander was suspected of sending troops to the National Election Commission’s office when President Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.
The Constitutional Court planned to hold a pretrial hearing on Jan. 13 in the impeachment trial of Han Duck-soo, the prime minister who served for two weeks as acting president after Yoon’s impeachment on Dec. 14, 2024. The opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to impeach Han on Dec. 27 after he refused to appoint three National Assembly-nominated justices to the Constitutional Court. Han and his replacement as acting president, Choi, are members of Yoon’s People’s Power Party.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced a former Democratic Party leader to two years in prison for receiving illegal political funds from business people. Song Young-gil was found guilty of accepting donations under the pretext that the monies were for his support group. The court acquitted Song of charges that he gave cash to party members in return for their votes in the party leadership election.
A three-judge panel in military court acquitted a marine colonel who faced insubordination and defamation charges after accusing President Yoon Suk Yeol of whitewashing his investigation into a marine’s death. Colonel Park Jung-hun said the charges were filed in retaliation for his efforts to hold senior officers in the South Korean Marine Corps accountable for a marine’s death during a flood rescue mission in 2023. Opposition lawmakers voted three times to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether President Yoon did intervene in the investigation, but Yoon vetoed the bill each time.
The Seoul High Court cleared the government and an adoption agency of all liability in a lawsuit filed by a 49-year-old Korean man whose traumatic adoption journey led to an abusive childhood in the US and eventual deportation to South Korea. It overturned a lower court ruling in 2023 that ordered the adoption agency to pay the man 100 million won ($68,600) in damages. In their defense, the adoption agency and the government cited a 1977 adoption law that eased requirements to verify children's citizenship status and removed judicial oversight. The law, enacted under a military dictatorship, is seen by critics as fueling fraudulent practices that led to the largest international adoption program in history.
Taiwan
Taiwan accused a Chinese cargo ship of damaging an undersea cable off its northeastern coast in an alleged act of sabotage. The ship is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company whose director is a mainland Chinese citizen. As the ship is due to arrive in Busan in the coming days, Taiwan asked South Korea for assistance in its investigation. Another Chinese ship was suspected of cutting data cables in the Baltic Sea in November.
Following the legislature’s passage of a controversial amendment to the Constitutional Court Procedures Act, 90 academics published an open letter saying the amendment would undermine the court's ability to provide remedies to persons whose constitutional rights have been violated. The amendment, supported by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP), requires a quorum of at least ten justices and a super-majority of nine to declare a law unconstitutional. At the same time, the opposition rejected President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) nominees to fill seven seats that became vacant in recent months, leaving just eight sitting justices. Constitutional Court justices serve staggered eight-year terms.