February 9-15
China
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate released five typical cases relating to organized crime and providing some clarification about how to identify an organized crime group and its assets. The 2021 Law on Countering Organized Crime stipulates, without any further guidance, that when it is shown with a high degree pf probability that property belongs to a criminal organization, it shall be confiscated.
The Supreme People’s Court released six typical cases involving persons accused of using the internet to commit blackmail and extortion. Two of the cases involve conspiring with suspects in Myanmar and blackmailing victims by threatening to release their nude images and videos.
A jury in US federal court in Boston acquitted a Chinese-born US citizen of charges that he acted as an unregistered Chinese agent by supplying Beijing with information about pro-Taiwan individuals, dissidents, and groups in the local Chinese community. Prosecutors had alleged that in 2018, after traveling to Beijing for meetings with an agency of the Chinese Communist Party, 65-year-old Litang Liang (梁利堂) founded the New England Alliance for the Peaceful Unification of China, which promoted the unification of Taiwan with China. Liang’s lawyer said that Liang was merely exercising his free speech rights through the group’s advocacy.
Hong Kong
An activist whose social work license is currently suspended has been warned against identifying himself on social media as an “independent social worker” or “former social worker.” The Social Workers Registration Board sent the warning to Lau Ka-tung, whose license it suspended for five years after Lau was convicted of obstructing a police officer during the 2019 anti-extradition protests. Hong Kong amended its Social Worker Registration Ordinance last year and gave the board power to disqualify a social worker convicted of an offense that “may bring the profession … into disrepute.”
Selina Cheng, chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, filed private prosecution proceedings against her former employer, The Wall Street Journal. Cheng accused the newspaper of breaching the laws protecting employees’ right to join union activities by firing her after she took on the association’s leadership role. Cheng previously asked the city’s Labor Department to prosecute the Wall Street Journal but it declined on the advise of the Justice Department, according to Cheng’s lawyer. The Justice Department has now requested an adjournment of Cheng’s private litigation while it considers whether to intervene.
Japan
US President Donald Trump’s comments that Nippon Steel would invest in US Steel instead of pursuing a takeover took both companies by surprise, reports the Japan Times. Trump made the remark on Feb. 7 after a meeting at the White House with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The idea of a smaller transaction was apparently not discussed when Trump met on Feb. 6 with US Steel Chief Executive Officer David Burritt, who instead pitched the idea that Nippon Steel increase its investment in the US.
Lawyers for a man who spent nearly half a century on death row before being acquitted say he plans to file a defamation lawsuit against the government after a prosecutor general criticized the acquittal decision. The lawyers for 88-year-old Iwao Hakamata say the prosecutor general’s comments imply that Hakamata is actually guilty, thus damaging his reputation.
A law providing government compensation to victims of forced sterilization surgeries performed on individuals with disabilities under the former eugenic protection law has taken effect in Japan. Victims of forced sterilization will receive ¥15 million in compensation, while their spouses will be entitled to ¥5 million. If both have died, their families may claim the compensation.
The Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reports that the Japan Fair Trade Commission is set to determine that a subsidiary of Nissan Motor Co. violated the Subcontracting Law by forcing its subcontractors to provide free storage for its tools and molds of car components, in some cases for over a decade. In the auto and other manufacturing industries, subcontractors often need the permission of a major company to get rid of molds. The JFTC reportedly deemed that the practice of having molds stored for free violates the law.
Koreas
South Korea’s opposition-led National Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Acting President Choi Sang-mok to appoint a ninth justice to the Constitutional Court and bring the bench to its full size. The court is currently holding a trial to decide whether to uphold the National Assembly’s vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol for his Dec. 3 martial law declaration. At least six justices must vote yes to uphold the impeachment. The National Assembly wants to have a full bench to enhance the chances of getting six yes votes.
The Constitutional Court of South Korea approved President Yoon Suk Yeol’s request to summon Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to testify at his impeachment trial. Yoon’s lawyers argued that Han best understood the reasons behind Yoon’s Dec. 3 imposition of martial law, which triggered the effort to impeach him. The impeachment proceedings are expected to stretch into March due to the scheduling of new and return witnesses and scheduling conflicts with Yoon’s proceedings in criminal court, where he faces an insurrection charge.
South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled in favor of cable channel MBN and set aside a six-month shutdown penalty imposed by the Korea Communications Commission in 2020. The commission found that MBN engaged in illegal financing when it obtained its business license and later committed accounting fraud to conceal the irregularity. The case has wound its way through layers of appeals since then, and now reaches the end of the road.
Authorities in the South Korean city of Daejeon said that an elementary school teacher accused of stabbing an 8-year-old student to death had recently returned from a medical leave for treatment of depression. The government said it is advancing legislation that would allow authorities to place teachers on mandatory leave if they are deemed unfit to perform their duties due to mental illness or other conditions.
Taiwan
Lawmakers from the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party approved amendments to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) that the president’s party says will make it harder to initiate recalls of elected officials. The revisions will require persons who initiate a recall petition and signatories to provide photocopies of their ID cards, instead of simply their ID numbers and addresses. The Legislative Yuan first approved the amendments in December but the Executive Yuan said they would be difficult to implement and requested a re-vote.
Senior officials of the Ministry of National Defense said they will require volunteer service members to pledge that that they do not hold citizenship of another nation before joining the military. The move follows an incident where the a sailor’s mother obtained a PRC identification card for her son without informing him. By law, persons who hold PRC residency may not serve in Taiwan’s government or military.