March 2-8
China
The National People's Congress (NPC) opened its annual plenary session, which runs from March 5-11. The government announced an annual growth target of about 5%, the same as for the past two years, with a 7.2% increase in the official defense budget. Speeches emphasized the importance of the private sector and high-tech companies after several years of bringing both under tighter state control. The NPC’s formal agenda includes reviewing the work reports of the government, its own Standing Committee, the Supreme People's Court, and the Supreme People's Procuratorate; approving the central and local budgets; and approving a national economic and social development plan - all of which are always approved. The session also will deliberate a draft amendment to the Law on Delegates to the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses.
The day before the plenary session began, an NPC spokesman told a press conference that the body is speeding up work on the Private Economy Promotion Law (民营经济促进法). The draft, which underwent a second review by the NPC Standing Committee in February, aims to codify commitments to equal treatment for the public and non-public sectors and ensure fair access to resources. The spokesman emphasized the importance of the law in transforming pro-private sector policies into binding legal norms to boost business confidence.
Revisions to the Cultural Relics Protection Law took effect on March 1. The revisions - the first major update to the law in over two decades - include stricter penalties and enhanced oversight, and put primary responsibility for heritage preservation on local governments. The revisions also remove the statute of limitations on reclaiming looted artifacts.
The Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Shifei Chen, former deputy director of the National Medical Product Administration, is being investigated for “serious violations of discipline and law.” No further details were provided.
The US Department of Justice indicted twelve Chinese nationals on charges of participating in a state-organized and funded “hackers for hire” scheme that targets American companies, law firms, news organizations, religious groups, dissidents, and government agencies. Indictments filed in New York and Washington allege that the hackers often took orders from China's Ministry of Public Security. Those accused are believed to be in China.
Hong Kong
The Court of Final Appeals unanimously overturned the convictions of three former organizers of the city’s annual Tiananmen vigil for refusing to provide information to police. Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan, and Tsui Hon-kwong — core members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China — have already served their 4 1/2-month sentences. At issue was whether the alliance was a “foreign agent” and thus required by law to provide information to the police. The alliance has disbanded and memorials of the 1989 events are treated as seditious.
The national security trial of former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai adjourned after 52 days of testimony by Lai. The three-judge panel tentatively scheduled closing arguments for July 28. Lai, 77, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and a third count of conspiring to publish seditious materials. The trial began in December 2023 but has been paused for long stretches. It ended with 52 days of testimony by Lai, during which he rejected prosecutors’ allegations that he supported a Western scheme to dismember China or overthrow the Communist Party. Lai said that the goal of his political advocacy was to promote Hong Kong freedom against tyranny from Beijing.
The Court of Final Appeals rejected the appeal of a pro-democracy activist and radio DJ to overturn his 2022 sedition conviction. Tam Tak-chi was sentenced to 40 months in prison on a total of 11 charges that included uttering seditious words such as “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times,” public disorder, and incitement to take part in an unauthorized assembly.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang accused Johannes Chan, former dean of the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty, of undermining the rule of law by publishing an opinion piece about a District Court’s treatment of criminal cases arising from the July 21, 2019 assault at the Yuen Long MTR station.
A court dismissed former student leader Jacky So's appeal against a law that criminalizes incitement to cast blank or invalid ballots. It upheld his suspended two-month jail sentence for sharing a post that urged voters to cast blank ballots in the 2021 legislative election. So argued that the law violates freedom of expression, but the judge ruled that it targets incitement rather than individual voting decisions.
The Second Amendment to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement Agreement on Trade in Services (Agreement II) took effect on March 1. It expands market access for Hong Kong businesses and professionals in mainland China and provides preferential treatment in key service sectors such as financial services, construction, legal services, and tourism.
Japan
The Nagoya High Court became the fourth high court in Japan to rule that failure to legalize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. However, it also rejected a damages claim by the plaintiffs. High courts in Sapporo, Tokyo, and Fukuoka have made similar decisions.
Japanese Judge Yuji Iwasawa was elected president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. He is the second Japanese national to hold the position after Hisashi Owada. Iwasawa, a professor at the University of Tokyo and former chair of the UN Human Rights Committee, joined the ICJ as a judge in 2018 following Owada's retirement. The Hague-based ICJ, which resolves disputes between states, has 15 judges elected for nine-year terms.
A Jiji Press survey found that 311, or 44%, of all 705 members of parliament think the country should introduce a selective dual surname system for married couples. Only 1% said that the country should maintain its current system of requiring married couples to have the same surname. Nearly one in five said Japan should expand the use of maiden names or revise a law to give legal validity to maiden names; one-third did not respond, including Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is considering implementing a nationwide firewall to block access to online casinos amid a surge in illegal gambling. Japan limits the types of gambling permitted, but in recent years offshore gambling platforms have proliferated. The firewall proposal is at an early stage and faces many technical challenges.
The land ministry told a group representing former residents of Ioto Island, also known as Iwo Jima, that no law prohibits them from returning to the island as they wish, but practical obstacles remain. Residents were forcibly evacuated in the summer of 1944. A fierce month-long battle with US forces took place there in 1945, during which more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers died. The United States returned the island to Japan in 1968, but it remains under the control of Japan’s military, and residents have not been allowed to return.
Koreas
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol walked out of a detention center after 52 days of captivity but his impeachment and criminal trials will continue. A Seoul court ruled on March 7 that a procedural error by prosecutors made Yoon’s detention illegal. Yoon was arrested in January on insurrection charges related to his brief imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. Yoon is being tried in two courts: the Constitutional Court held its last hearing in his impeachment trial last week and has yet to issue its verdict; an ordinary court is hearing criminal charges against him.
Prosecutors raided the office of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) to investigate whether it tried to conceal a court's initial denial of search warrants for President Yoon Suk Yeol as part of the investigation into his martial law imposition. Yoon's lawyers claimed that the CIO requested search warrants from the Seoul Central District Court, but were denied. The CIO later applied to the Seoul Western District Court, which issued a warrant, leading to the detention of Yoon in January.
The Constitutional Court ruled that the National Election Commission is exempt from audits by the Board of Audit and Inspection. The board had audited the commission and reported finding 878 instances of hiring irregularities. The ruling People Power Party proposed to establish a special inspector to oversee the commission, while the opposition Democratic Party introduced legislation to formally exclude the commission from future audits.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation attributed the record-breaking $1.5 billion hack of the Bybit crypto exchange last week to North Korea's Lazarus Group, a state-sponsored hacking group controlled by the country's intelligence services. The hackers drained a so-called cold crypto storage wallet, a hardware device usually kept offline that holds the private key needed to access funds. Bybit is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.
Taiwan
The government is considering requiring emigres from Hong Kong and Macau to live in Taiwan for four years before becoming eligible for permanent residency in Taiwan, up from the current one year, the Taipei Times reported. In addition, this group would no longer be able to apply for citizenship after obtaining permanent residency, the newspaper quoted an unidentified official as saying.
The Taiwan Fair Trade Commission issued guidelines to help companies determine when their joint efforts to promote environmental sustainability may constitute illegal concerted action under the Taiwan Fair Trade Act.
Taiwan-based NGOs urged the government to amend existing laws to make it easier for the victims of workplace sexual harassment to access services such as counseling, medical care, and legal aid. Victims often are forced to repeat their stories over and over to multiple resource providers, compounding their trauma. The NGOs plan to submit further proposals by the end of March.