December 22-December 28
China
In a rare public exercise of its powers of legislative review, the Legislative Affairs Commission (法制工作委员会) of the National People’s Congress said it would urge courts to take appropriate measures after protests took place in at least 11 cities over courts’ implementation of the revised Company Law. The revisions, which took effect July 1, set deadlines for the initial investors in a company to pay in registered capital and allow companies to hold persons liable for promised but unpaid amounts. Some courts additionally held initial investors liable for company debts even if they had already transferred their shares to others based on an interpretation of the revised Company Law issued by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC). On Dec. 24, the SPC issued a clarification that the Company Law revisions should not be given retroactive effect.
The government issued new regulations, effective immediately, that subject the Chinese operations of foreign accounting firms to supervision and management by the Finance Ministry and public securities bureau. Foreign auditors’ work has been scrutinized more closely since the collapse of China Evergrande Group and other property developers.
Courts gave harsh sentences to two men who drove their cars into groups of people in recent “revenge against society” attacks. First, the Changde Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan Province gave a suspended death sentence to the man who drove his car into elementary school students and parents in Hunan Province on November 19. The court said that 30 people were injured, including 18 children - the first time the casualty figures were publicly disclosed. The court said the attacker was motivated by frustration after losing money in investments. Second, a Zhuhai court gave a death sentence to the man who drove his car into people exercising on a running track at a sports facility on November 11, killing at least 35 persons and injuring dozens others. The court said he was dissatisfied with the division of property in his divorce. The BBC counted 19 attacks targeting strangers in China during 2024 and said at least 63 persons were killed in total.
The National People’s Congress Standing Committee met to consider five returning bills and five new bills. At the end of the session, the Standing Committee released the texts of five bills for public comment, including the draft Private Economy Promotion Law (民营经济促进法), the draft Law on Publicity and Education on the Rule of Law (法治宣传教育法), the draft Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law (危险化学品安全法), revisions to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law (反不正当竞争法修订), and revisions to the Fisheries Law (渔业法修订). Legislation is generally approved after two or three rounds of discussion and revisions by the Standing Committee.
A court in Henan Province sentenced to death a man who fatally stabbed a judge because he was dissatisfied with her decision in his civil lawsuit against an insurance company. Dang Zhijun had sought compensation for expenses and losses incurred during a hospital stay following a traffic accident. However, Judge Wang Jiajia determined that Dang had falsified some evidence and had not been hospitalized. She awarded him only about half the damages he sought. Dang stabbed her in the parking garage of her home.
Social media is heatedly discussing the case of Bu Xiaohua, a woman with a history of mental illness who went missing from her hometown of Jinzhong in Shanxi Province in 2011 and was recently discovered to be living in a village about 100 miles away. Local authorities said they were investigating the man she was living with, and with whom she apparently had several children, on suspicion of rape. Comparisons are being made to the mentally ill woman found chained in a Jiangsu Province village in 2022, where she had been trafficked.
Hong Kong
Secretary for Security Chris Tang (鄧炳強) announced rewards of HK$1 million (about US$128,750) for information leading to the arrests of six democracy campaigners, bringing to 19 the number of persons on a police wanted list. All are now living abroad and are accused of endangering national security by criticizing the clampdown on speech and assembly and lobbying foreign governments to sanction Hong Kong and senior officials. Those added to the wanted list are four persons based in Britain: Chung Kim-wah (鍾劍華), formerly a senior member of independent polling organization Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute; Carmen Lau (劉珈汶) of the Hong Kong Democracy Council and a former district councillor; Chloe Cheung (張晞晴) from the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation; and Tony Chung (鍾翰林), former leader of the now-defunct pro-independence group Studentlocalism; and two persons based in Canada: Joseph Tay, co-founder of the Canada-based NGO HongKonger Station; and YouTuber Victor Ho. In addition, the passports of seven other activists living abroad were revoked.
The Environmental Protection Department said it issued HK$2,000 (about US$258) penalty notices to two restaurants within the first two months of a disposable plastics ban. It received 62 complaints about businesses that were not complying with the ban, which took effect on October 22 after a six-month grace period.
Japan
The Upper House of parliament approved three measures relating to controversial political funds: it abolished policy activity allowances that parties provide to their lawmakers, approved a new funds oversight mechanism, and banned foreign nationals from purchasing fundraiser tickets. Lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on banning political donations from companies and other organizations. The largest opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, wants a ban but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba favors more disclosure rather than a ban.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office dropped charges against 65 current and former Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers and their secretaries, including Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba himself, for allegedly violating the political funds control law. Prosecutors cited insufficient evidence as the reason in some cases, including that of Ishiba and four others connected to his faction, but did not explain the reasons for dropping charges in all the cases. The factions — legal entities that provide support to their members — were dissolved earlier this year following a kickback scandal.
Nippon Steel President Tadashi Imai made public a letter signed by two dozen officials in communities where US Steel mills are located, asking US President Joe Biden to approve Nippon Steel’s proposed $15 billion acquisition of US Steel. The inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which has been reviewing the transaction’s national security impacts for months, reported to the White House on Dec. 23 that it had deadlocked, leaving it up to Biden to approve or reject the deal within 15 days. The United Steelworkers Union prefers that US Steel be acquired by Cleveland-Cliffs, currently the top US steelmaker. Nippon Steel and US Steel have alleged that Biden agreed to oppose the acquisition in return for the union’s support for his re-election.
Former Nissan Motor Chairman Carlos Ghosn expressed doubt that the proposed merger of Nissan and Honda Motor, announced Monday, will be successful. Ghosn, speaking at an online news conference with the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, said the two companies share the same strengths and weaknesses and simply duplicate each other. Ghosn led Nissan for about 20 years from 1999, until he was arrested and accused of financial misconduct in Japan. He fled to Lebanon while on bail.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission reportedly plans to issue a cease-and-desist order against Google over what it says is a violation of the anti-monopoly law by forcing smartphone manufacturers to install the company’s search app on their smartphones. The commission has been investigating the company since October 2023.
The Environment Ministry said it will require regular testing of tap water and make permanent its current provisional standard for the concentration of PFAS chemicals, a group of widely used, long-lasting fluorine compounds. Water providers said they will need time to respond so the policy is expected to be put into effect from April 2026.
Japan Post sued Yamato Transport for ¥12 billion ($76 million) in damages after Yamato sought to back out of its agreement to gradually outsource its small thin parcel delivery operation to Japan Post.
Koreas
The opposition-dominated National Assembly voted to impeach Acting President Han Duck-soo, less than two weeks after voting to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon precipitated the political crisis by declaring martial law on Dec. 3 in frustration over the legislature’s obstruction of his agenda; the National Assembly reversed the martial law declaration and began an investigation into Yoon. Han, who was elevated from the post of premier to acting president while the Constitutional Court decides whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment, became a target when he opposed efforts to create a special counsel to investigate Yoon and his wife. Han also blocked the National Assembly from appointing three judges to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court; the opposition believes filling out the bench will increase the court’s likelihood of upholding impeachment. By law, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok now assumes the acting presidency.
Taiwan
The opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan rejected all seven of President Lai Ching-te’s nominees for the Constitutional Court, effectively paralyzing the court. The court had recently invalidated opposition-backed efforts to increase the power of the legislature (controlled by the Nationalist or KMT Party and Taiwan People’s Party) over the executive (controlled by the Democratic Progressive Party). The court also angered the opposition by restricting use of the death penalty, which the DPP opposes but the KMT supports. KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) said rejecting the nominees was tantamount to a no confidence vote on President Lai. On Dec. 20, the KMT and TPP approved legislation imposing a 10-justice quorum requirement on the Constitutional Court, which currently has just eight justices and seven vacancies.
President Lai Ching-te said amendments to Taiwan’s revenue allocation law approved Dec. 20 by the opposition-controlled legislature could deeply compromise the nation’s combat capacity. In addition to defense, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics said such centrally funded programs as labor insurance, rent subsidies, social housing, policing, public construction and healthcare will be affected. The amendment shifts the allocation of tax revenues between the central and local governments from the current 75%-25% to about 60%-40%.
Activist groups opposed to last week’s KMT-backed revisions to the Constitutional Court, budget, and referendum laws said they will continue nationwide rallies and seek to have leading KMT legislators recalled — despite the now-steeper threshold for recall votes. The protesters, who have been organized by the Taiwan Citizen Front, Economic Democracy Union, and several minor parties, and who call themselves the Bluebird Movement, tried unsuccessfully to occupy the Legislative Yuan building to halt voting on the legislative amendments on Dec. 20, in imitation of the 2014 Sunflower Movement.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted the chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), on charges of corruption, embezzlement, breach of trust and other alleged offenses. Ten other persons including former top aides of Ko also were indicted in four separate cases relating to Ko’s 2024-2025 presidential campaign and an urban redevelopment project during Ko’s term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022. The TPP said the charges are political. Ko has been detained incommunicado since early September with prosecutors alleging he had attempted to destroy evidence.
The Legislative Yuan passed a whistle-blower protection bill that awards employees in government agencies and government-run businesses and groups who inform the public of unethical acts. The Act Protecting Anti-corruption Informants (公益揭弊者保案) requires the Ministry of Justice to establish a Whistle-blower Protection Committee to handle whistle-blower reports.