This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 15 - December 21

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies that the government operates secret police stations abroad; Hong Kong’s chief executive supports using ballot boxes that will scan voters’ ballots in next year’s legislative election; Japan’s lower house agrees to abolish controversial policy activity funds that lawmakers can spend without disclosure; South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol defies summons from investigators seeking to question him about his attempt to impose martial law; Taiwan’s opposition parties pass controversial legislation to constrain the Constitutional Court, raise the threshold for recalls, and channel tax revenues to local governments.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 8 - December 14, 2024

China and the US renew the seminal US-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement; a Hong Kong court convicts a former Democratic Party lawmaker of rioting in 2020; a third Japanese high court rules that the country's lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional; South Korea’s National Assembly votes to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law; Taiwan’s Nationalist Party proposes steps to make it harder for Taiwan’s president to impose martial law.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 1 - December 7, 2024

TikTok’s CEO says he will appeal to the US Supreme Court to block his company’s ban in the US; a Hong Kong court retries a social worker accused of rioting for trying to liaise between protesters and police in 2019; tens of thousands of South Koreans protest outside the National Assembly, demanding the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he attempted to impose martial law; partisan scuffles again disrupt proceedings in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan as the Democratic Progressive Party and Nationalist Party are unable to reach agreement across a host of issues

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 24, 2024-November 30, 2024

China releases three American prisoners in exchange for four Chinese citizens held in the US; Hong Kong’s apex court upholds lower court judgments recognizing public housing benefits and inheritance rights for same-sex married couples; the Japan Fair Trade Commission searches the offices of Amazon’s Japanese unit for alleged violations of the anti-monopoly law; a South Korean court clears the leader of the main opposition party of charges that he forced a witness to commit perjury; the Taiwan government expresses disappointment that member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting in Vancouver did not initiate Taiwan’s accession process.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 17, 2024-November 23, 2024

A Chinese transgender woman wins compensation from a hospital that subjected her to electroshock without her consent in an effort to “cure” her; Hong Kong’s High Court gives prison terms to 45 of the city’s leading pro-democracy politicians for holding an unauthorized primary election in 2020; a Japanese public interest litigation group challenges the power of judges to restrict the clothing that people wear in court; South Korea’s audit agency accuses former senior government officials of intentionally delaying deployment of a US advanced missile defense system; Taiwan’s finance minister promises lawmakers to look into ways of collecting income tax on profits from cryptocurrency trading.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 10, 2024-November 16, 2024

Chinese police detain a man who they say drove his car into a group of people exercising at a sports center, killing 35; a Hong Kong reporter files a wrongful dismissal claim against the Wall Street Journal for firing her weeks after her election as the leader of the city’s largest press group; a South Korean court convicts opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of making false statements during his presidential campaign and gives him a suspended prison sentence; Japan’s prime minister keeps his job and vows to crack down on misuse of political funds; lawyers in Taiwan protest against proposed legislation that could paralyze the Constitutional Court.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 3, 2024-November 9, 2024

China revises its Anti-Money Laundering Law to address new forms of money laundering; the Hong Kong Law Society sends warning letters to sixteen lawyers associated with a fund that supported legal aid for 2019 protesters; Japanese opposition parties agree that the law governing political funds needs revision but not how to revise it; South Korea' fines Meta $15 million for collecting and sensitive user data and sharing it with advertisers; Taiwan's Ministry of Justice withdraws a proposal to increase the fines for various abortion-related illegal acts following an outcry from women's rights groups.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China announces policies intended to boost births; a Hong Kong court upholds a new rule blocking defendants in national security cases from calling overseas witness to testify virtually; a second Japanese high court rules that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional; a South Korean court orders the state to compensate the family of a murder victim because police failed to identify and punish his killer; a Taiwan court extends the detentions of Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je and other suspects in a high stakes bribery investigation.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

Chinese prosecutors formally charge a Japanese businessman with espionage in a case that has chilled the Japanese business community; a Hong Kong court sentences a man to eight weeks in prison for covering his ears and remaining seated while the national anthem was played at a sports event; Japan's Liberal Democratic Party schedules its party leadership election for September 27 - an event that will determine who is Japan's next prime minister; a South Korean court refuses to hand down the death penalty to the man convicted of killing two persons and injuring twelve in a random attack at a department store; a Taiwan court convicts eight active-duty military officers of spying for China and sentences them to up to 13 years in prison.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs proposes to make marriage registration more convenient; Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal upholds the convictions of seven pro-democracy activists for participating in a peaceful march in 2019; Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announces he will step down as head of his party and therefore as prime minister; South Korea's government says it will help medical schools cope with an ordered surge in new admissions; Taiwanese law enforcement agencies conduct a series of raids in response to financial crimes.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s Supreme People’s Court issues typical cases involving the interpretation and application of foreign law; the Hong Kong Court of Appeal allows a former radio presenter and democratic activist to appeal legal questions related to his sedition conviction; the Hiroshima High Court in Japan approves the legal gender change of a transgender woman even though she did not undergo gender confirmation surgery as currently required by law; the Seoul Metropolitan Government holds a forum on human rights abuses in North Korea in an effort to spur international cooperation to bring about change; a district court in Taiwan orders the detention of a prominent politician while he is investigated on suspicion of corruption.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

The UN Human Rights Council approves China’s Universal Periodic Review report but Western governments express frustration; a Hong Kong court continues holding pre-sentencing hearings for the 45 democratic politicians and activists who were convicted or pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit subversion; Japan’s Supreme Court declares the former Eugenics Protection Law unconstitutional and orders the government to compensate plaintiffs who were forcibly sterilized; a South Korean court gives a 15-year prison term to the man who stabbed opposition leader Lee Jae-myung in the neck during a campaign event; Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang Party says mainland Chinese contractors should be allowed to carry out government-funded infrastructure projects on Taiwan’s outlying islands.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s Communist Party strips the last two defense ministers of party membership for accepting bribes and other corrupt behavior; the Chinese legislature drops a proposal to punish wearing clothing that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people; Hong Kong police charge a man with sedition for writing graffiti on seat backs in public buses; Japan charges two US Air Force servicemen with sexual assault in separate incidents; South Korea’s Constitutional Court throws out a law that automatically pardons property crimes against immediate family members; Taiwan President Lai Ching-te petitions the Constitutional Court to review controversial legislation passed by the opposition that gives the Legislative Yuan new powers to investigate the executive branch. Read more.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China says that persons deemed to be advocating Taiwan separatism could receive the death penalty; a Hong Kong court sentences 17 people to prison for their roles in a standoff between police and protesters at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2019; Japan’s top court recognizes a transgender women’s parental rights with respect to a child conceived using her frozen sperm but born after her transition; the South Korean Supreme Court declines to halt the government’s plan to increase the number of medical students; Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan reaffirms a set of amendments that controversially expand its investigatory powers. Read more.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

A Chinese court sentences feminist activist Huang Xueqin and labor activist Wang Jianbing to prison for inciting subversion against the state; a Canadian judge resigns from a part-time position on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal; a Japanese court begins hearing a lawsuit by five women who say they have been unconstitutionally blocked from choosing sterilization surgery; South Korea’s main opposition leader is indicted on bribery charges; Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party says it will appeal to the public for support as it seeks to undo a legislative power grab. Read more.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China's Supreme People’s Court releases typical cases involving criminal punishment for cheating on exams ahead of the annual national college entrance exam; two senior British judges resign from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal; Japan’s legislature approves a new child support fund aimed at boosting births by sharing the costs of child rearing; South Korea suspends a 2018 inter-Korean agreement on lowering front-line military tensions as North Korea sends garbage-filled balloons across the border; Taiwan's Constitutional Court says the current height requirements for police and firefighters are unconstitutional because they exclude women more often than they exclude men. Read more.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China's judicial organs and Ministry of Education mark international Children’s Day with reports and guidelines about efforts to protect children’s rights; a Hong Kong court convicts 14 democrats of attempting to subvert state power by holding an unofficial primary election; the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights issues a report about rights problems in Japan; South Korea's Supreme Court upholds the conviction of a journalist who published the name and photo of an accused child abuser; Taiwan's legislature passes controversial bills intended to strengthen its power over the executive branch, but legal hurdles loom. Read more.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s Ministry of Public Security says it is taking measures to open up all of China’s hotels to foreign guests, ending a system in which hotels needed special approval to house foreigners; the Hong Kong government moves to establish control over the board that licenses social workers, calling it a national security issue; a Japanese court rejects a South Asian woman’s lawsuit against the city of Tokyo for alleged racial discrimination by the police; South Korea’s Constitutional Court holds a final hearing of claims that the government harmed citizens by failing to take more action on climate change; Taiwan’s legislature ignores demonstrators and moves closer to passing bills that would allow it to investigate executive-branch officials and demand they answer questions or face criminal penalties. Read more.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was reported missing days after her scheduled release from prison; the governments of China and Hong Kong rejected Britain’s charge that three men in London were assisting Hong Kong’s intelligence services; a Japanese court ordered a company to compensate a female employee for indirectly discriminating against women in its housing benefits policy; a South Korean court said doctors and medical students lack standing to file an administrative lawsuit against the government’s plan to increase medical school enrollments; members of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan brawled on the chamber floor after the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party tried to force a vote on bills that would increase the legislative body’s power over the executive branch.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China’s Supreme People’s Court issues rules for selecting cases to include in the new People’s Court Case Database; Hong Kong's Court of Appeal grants the government’s request for an injunction to ban the song “Glory to Hong Kong”; the Japan Fisheries Agency seeks public comment on its plan to allow commercial hunting of fin whales; a South Korean court allows five transgender men to change their legal sex without surgery; Taiwan’s Executive Yuan approves four pieces of anti-fraud legislation.