November 10-16
China
Police detained a 62-year-old man whom they said drove his vehicle into a group of people exercising at a sports center in Zhuhai in southern China, killing 35 people and severely injuring 43. They said they found the man unconscious in his car with a knife and neck wounds thought to be self-inflicted. A preliminary investigation indicated he was dissatisfied with the division of family assets in his recent divorce. Guangdong Province authorities ordered local communities try to prevent similar attacks by investigating and working to resolve all disputes among neighbors or within families and checking up on persons who lack stable income, have no family, and may be mentally unstable.
Police in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province arrested a 21-year-old man who allegedly went on a stabbing spree outside a school that he recently attended, killing eight people and injuring 17 others. He allegedly had a grievance against the school.
The Communist Party expelled former Agriculture Minister Tang Renjian six months after he was placed under investigation by the anti-graft watchdog and removed from his post. Tang, 61, was investigated for “serious violations of discipline and law,” a euphemism for corruption, and removed from the leadership roster of the ministry's website in May.
The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) released five “typical cases” related to fabricating debt disputes and maliciously defaulting in legal payment obligations. The litigants in these cases were attempting to obtain judicial recognition of their fictitious debt disputes.
China executed three men convicted of repeatedly raping or sexually abusing underage girls, including a former primary school teacher. The sentences were reviewed and approved by the Supreme People’s Court, which said the circumstances and consequences in all the cases were extremely serious.
Hong Kong
A court handed down sentences of nearly 24 years and 13 1/2 years to two men who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill police by setting off bombs during a protest on December 8, 2019. The plan was not executed as police arrested core members of two radical groups behind the plot. Five others received prison terms ranging from five years and 10 months to 12 years.
A court ordered a man who participated in attacking a police officer during the 2019 protests to pay the officer HK$440,000 (US$56,563) in compensation. Yau Chi-lok pleaded guilty to taking part in an unlawful assembly and assaulting a police officer in July 2020, and was sentenced to four months in prison.
A Hong Kong reporter filed 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, the Hong Kong Journalists Association. Selina Cheng brought a civil claim at the city’s Labor Tribunal and said she is also seeking to pursue a criminal case.
The head of an NGO, Hong Kong Unison, urged the government Equal Opportunities Commission to do a better job of educating the public about impermissible discrimination after a medal-winning Paralympics athlete was denied entry to a local restaurant.
Japan
The parliament voted to keep Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in office but he now must deal with emboldened opposition parties that control key committees including budget, national security, and legal affairs. Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party lost its majority in the lower house in last month’s elections. After the vote, he pledged to take tougher measures against misuse of political funds, the issue that sank the LDP. Parliament is expected to convene in an extraordinary session in late November to discuss proposed revisions to the political funds control law.
Koreas
A Seoul court convicted opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of making false statements during his presidential campaign in violation of the Public Official Election Act and sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years. If the verdict is upheld by the Supreme Court, Lee, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, will lose his parliamentary seat and be barred from running in the 2027 presidential election. It was the first verdict from Lee’s four ongoing trials.
In an act of rare bipartisan cooperation, rival parties in the legislature agreed to advance a revision of the espionage law that would expand the scope of espionage from leaking information to an “enemy country” - referring to North Korea - to leaking information to “all foreign countries.” Calls for such revision follow a series of high-profile technology leaks.
Police in South Korea said they referred the head of a North Korean defectors group to prosecutors on charges of sending balloons over the border into the North in violation of the Aviation Safety Act. Park Sang-hak, the head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, is accused of sending across the border about 10 large balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets, US dollar bills and USB sticks containing South Korean dramas and songs. Police said the balloons weighed over three kilograms each, one kilo heavier than permitted by the law.
North Korea ratified a mutual defense treaty with Russia. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty requires the two countries to use all available means to provide immediate assistance if the other is attacked. Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed the treaty in June, and Russia ratified it last week. North Korea has already sent up to 12,000 soldiers to aid Russia in its war against Ukraine, and there are concerns it might formally enter the war.
Taiwan
More than 300 lawyers marched in protest in Taipei against efforts by the opposition Nationalist Party (KMT) to amend the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) to require 10 of the court’s 15 justices be present to make a ruling and to approve a constitutional interpretation. Such a change would paralyze the court because the terms of seven justices recently ended and the legislature has yet to approve the nominated successors. A two-thirds quorum rule was in place during the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou of the KMT, from 2008-2016, and the Constitutional Court heard fewer than ten cases per year. Since the quorum requirement was lowered to a simple majority in 2022, the number of decisions each year has doubled.
The KMT and Taiwan People’s Party (TPT), which together hold a slim majority in the legislature, clashed with the Democratic Progressive Party over procedure as they sought approval for 22 amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法). The proposed amendments would raise the proportion of government revenues going to local governments. Currently 25% goes to local governments and 75% to the central government.