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Asia in Review

No. 8, February/2020, 4

Brought to you by CPG

Dear Readers, 

Welcome to the fourth issue of ‘Asia in Review’ (AiR) in February updating you on the latest developments in geopolitics and international relations as well as constitutional politics, law reform and governance in Asia. 

I wish you an informative read.

With the best wishes,

Henning Glaser

Director, German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG)

Webpage: www.cpg-online.de, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CPGTU

Main Sections

• Law and Politics in East Asia

• Law and Politics in South Asia

• Law and Politics in South East Asia

• International Relations, Geopolitics and Security in Asia

• Background Reading

Law and Politics in East Asia 

China: Government held responsible for coronavirus spread

(dql) Echoing earlier criticism [AiR No. 6, February/2020, 2] a law professor of Beijing University and rights activist has attacked the government over its handling of the coronavirus epidemic. Arguing that the repression of a free information flow was responsible for the spread of the virus, he warned that “without press freedom, not only the people will live in distress, but the government will also live in mendacity.” [Asia News]

China: Wall Street Journal reporters expelled

(dql) The Chinese government revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters and expelled them for releasing an opinion piece of a US professor  titled “China is the real sick man of Asia” in which the government's initial response to the coronavirus outbreak is described as “ineffective”. [Wall Street Journal]

China’s Foreign Ministry defended the move by arguing that the piece used “racially discriminatory language and maliciously slander and attack China”. [South Korea Morning Post]

China: Regime-critical bookseller sentenced

(dql) A Chinese court sentence a Swedish Hong Kong-based bookseller, known for having sold books critical of China’s political leadership, to ten years in jail and deprivation of political rights for five years. The court found him guilty of illegally providing intelligence to foreign entities. [South China Morning Post]

Amnesty International called the charges “completely unsubstantiated” and the sentence “outrageous” and demanded his release. [Amnesty International]

South Korea: Merger between political parties

(dql) In a move to increase their chances in the legislative election in April, three minor political have merged to form the Party for People's Livelihoods. The involved parties currently hold 20 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly. [Korea Herald]

The move follows a merger between the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and two other minor parties earlier this month. [AiR No. 7, February/2020, 3]

Taiwan: Remembering 228

(dql) Civic groups staged a march in Taipei past Saturday to mark the 73rd anniversary of the so-called 228 Incident which refers to an anti-government uprising in Taiwan on February 28, 1947 that the Kuomintang-led Republic of China government violently suppressed killing thousands of civilians. [Focus Taiwan]

Taiwan’s independence movement invokes the 228 Incident as a source of its identity. For insights into the historical background and the Kuomingtang’s memory of the incident in Taiwan see [The Diplomat].

Law and Politics in South Asia 

Pakistan remains on Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list

(jk) The FATF, an intergovernmental organization combating money laundering and terrorist financing, met last week to assess Pakistan's efforts in combating terror financing on its soil. The organization decided to keep the country on its grey list, but refrained from blacklisting Pakistan as some efforts to fight and eradicated terrorism from its soil were recognized. 

Pakistan is on the grey list since June 2018, and is assessed in regular periods over whether or not it is improving or should be fully blacklisted. Pakistan was evaluated on 27 actions points,  of which only a few were sufficiently addressed. The next meeting set for June.[Live Mint] [Washington Post]

Indian authorities have filed a case against social media users in Kashmir

(tk) Indian authorities have filed a first information report against unnamed social media users in Kashmir under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Section 66-A(b) of the Indian Information Technology (IT) Act, which can lead to detention for months without bail.

After a complete internet blackout for six months since the government had revoked Kashmir’s special status, authorities restored low speed 2G internet on January 24 for 301 websites approved by the administration, which excluded social media [Asia in Review No. 4, January/2020]. Thus, Kashmiris have been using virtual private networks (VPNs) to access blacklisted sites and started posting updates on social media.

The police case aims to take actions against those who misused social media sites for propagating “secessionist ideology and promoting unlawful activities”. According to an official, “anyone found using social media and posting any anti-national material can be called for questioning.” This action created panic amongst Kashmiris, seeing it as a step to ‘criminalize everyone’. A university student said, “I did not use the social media to post any political update, but I am really panicked and have now deleted the VPN and deactivated my social media accounts. It means the can now arrest anyone.”

The IT Act, on which the first information files are based on, was struck down by India’s top court in March 2015 as it violated free speech. Thus, an independent researcher calls the move “unconstitutional” and says that “this is a clear violation of digital rights of people. Today it is being implemented in Kashmir and tomorrow it can become a general practice in India.” [Al Jazeera]

Bangladesh: Progress in improving children’s health

(tk) According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2019, conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF, Bangladesh has made great progress in several areas related to health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, education and child protection. Especially the sharp decline in chronic malnutrition, which fell from 42 per cent in 2013 to 28 per cent in 2019, was a positive development and child mortality has been decreasing over the last 30 years. However, quality of education and drinking water, child marriage and violence against children remain big issues. [New Age]

Sri Lanka: Withdrawal from UN rights resolution

(tk) On Wednesday, Sri Lankan government announced to withdraw from a 2015 resolution co-sponsored by the previous President and 11 other countries with the U.N. Human Rights Council. This resolution soughed to investigate alleged serious human rights violations committed during the country’s 26-year civil war by both government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. During that war, current Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa played an important role as a top defense official, while his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was President. [The New York Times]

It is rumored that the move is a response to the U.S. imposing a travel ban on Sri Lanka’s army commander Silver amid alleged human rights violations. [Asia in Review No. 7, February/2020] [Jurist] Rights groups accused the army of killing at least 40,000 civilians in the final months of the war in 2009. [Al Jazeera]

Sri Lanka: Sirisena (re-)joins Rajapaksa in alliance

(jk) Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People’s Party)  and former President Maithripala Sirisena of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party  (SLFP) have signed an agreement for an alliance in the upcoming parliamentary polls this year. With the move, Sirisena, who previously left the Mahinda Rajapaksa government before being elected to office in 2015, has re-joined the alliance with the current Prime Minister. [The Hindu]

Law and Politics in Southeast Asia 

Thailand: Constitutional Court orders Future Forward Party to be dissolved

(ls) Thailand’s Constitutional Court last week decided to dissolve Future Forward Party (FFP), the second largest opposition party in the House of Representatives. In addition, the Court banned 11 party executives, among them party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and party secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, from running for political office for 10 years. The Court found that the party had violated the financing rules laid down in the Organic Act on Political Parties by accepting 191.2 million baht from Mr. Thanathorn, which he and the party claimed was a legal loan. The initiation of further criminal prosecution against party executives will be subject to the Election Commission’s decision. [Bangkok Post 1] [Khaosod English]

A group of 36 law lecturers at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Law published a statement voicing disagreement with the Constitutional Court's decision. [Bangkok Post 2] [Statement in Thai]

The United States and the European Union have issued statements expressing concern over the disbandment. The EU’s statement said, “dissolving political parties or banning Members of Parliament runs counter to the process of restoring pluralism initiated last year.” [U.S. Embassy] [EU Delegation]

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is holding a censure debate, with a no-confidence motion scheduled later this week. The 11 banned FFP executives are precluded from taking part in it. The governing coalition thus enjoys a comfortable majority of 264 seats against 224 seats for the opposition. The ruling Palang Pracharath Party was able to win another seat in a by-election in the central province of Kamphaeng Phet on Sunday. [Straits Times]

Malaysia: Pakatan Harapan collapses – Mahatir resigns and becomes interim PM – Government formation ongoing

(ls) In Malaysia, the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has collapsed with the departure of dozens of lawmakers. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's Parti Pri-bumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), which has 26 MPs, left the PH coalition. The exit of these lawmakers and 11 more from the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) left PH short of a simple majority in Parliament. Mahatir then resigned as prime minister, which was accepted by the Malaysian King, who, however, immediately re-appointed him interim prime minister.

The developments display, in particular, the disagreement of a faction within the PKR with the prospect of its own party leader, Anwar Ibrahim, becoming Mahatir’s successor. This faction is led by deputy party head Azmin Ali. The PPBM seemed to share these concerns. It first appeared as if the defectors could form a majority together with UMNO and other opposition parties. However, the developments are still ongoing. At the time of writing, the King was speaking to lawmakers in order to ascertain who could command a majority in the House. [Straits Times]

Pakatan Harapan’s popularity has been shrinking for several months as large parts of the public considered that multiple election promises have not been realized.

Malaysia: Attorney-General drops terrorism charges against state lawmakers

(ls) Malaysia’s Attorney-General Tommy Thomas on Friday dropped terrorism charges against 12 men, including two state lawmakers from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of ruling coalition Pakatan Harapan (PH), for alleged links to the defunct Sri Lankan terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The 12 ethnic-Indian individuals had been arraigned last year under the controversial Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012. The opposition criticized the decision and demanded Thomas’ removal from office. [Straits Times]

POFMA: Singapore High Court judge decides that claimants have to prove the truth of their statements

(ls) In another High Court decision that deals with the enforcement of Singapore’s controversial Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA), a judge held that a claimant who opposes a governmental correction order must prove the truth of his statement. In a prior decision, a different High Court judge had decided that the burden should fall on the government to prove a statement is false. The new decision is based on the reasoning that false statements are not protected speech under Article 14 of Singapore’s Constitution. [Straits Times]

Meanwhile, Facebook has complied with a POFMA order to block the page of a website which frequently publishes critical content about the Singaporean government. However, a Facebook spokesperson said: “We believe orders like this are disproportionate and contradict the government’s claim that [the law] would not be used as a censorship tool. (…) We’re deeply concerned about the precedent this sets for the stifling of freedom of expression in Singapore.” [South China Morning Post]

Indonesia: Draft bill aims to label LGBT as deviant

(ls/tk) Several Indonesian Members of Parliament have introduced a so-called “Family Resilience” bill that would outlaw surrogacy and require LGBT people to seek treatment at rehabilitation centers. The draft bill states that wives must “take care of household-related matters” and “treat the husband and the child well.” Homosexuality, incest and sadomasochism are defined as “sexual deviations”. It remains open whether President Joko Widodo’s government will support the bill. For several years now, Indonesia is seeing a shift towards greater conservativism including growing state and public hostility against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.  [Reuters]

A related piece published in the New Mandala describes one of the underlying political strategies as ‘scientific homophobia’, in which the deliberate distortion of academic research, the misuse of outdated research, and the obstruction of the larger academic debates have been deployed to convince the public about the danger of LGBT people to society. [New Mandala]

Myanmar: More court-martials against soldiers over crimes against Rohingya

(ls/tk) Myanmar’s army is to hold more court-martials over alleged abuses against Rohingya Muslims. The army’s announcement came after a government-appointed commission found that soldiers, among other actors, had committed war crimes against Rohingya in 2017. Myanmar has vowed to carry out its own investigations, saying international justice mechanisms violate its sovereignty. The country is facing genocide charges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. In January, the ICJ ordered preliminary measures against Myanmar to prevent genocidal acts and preserve evidence. [Reuters]

Meanwhile, the United Nations urged Myanmar’s government to lift the recently installed internet shutdown in Rakhine state. According to United Nations experts, the internet shutdown has severe impacts on the human rights of over a million people in Rakhine state, including their rights to safety, security, health, education, food, shelter, livelihood, freedom of expression, information, participation, association and assembly. At the same time, fighting and possible use of heavy weapons occurred near Rohingya villages, as reports showed. [UN News]

Myanmar on money-laundering watch list

(tk) The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) put Myanmar along with eleven other countries on its money-laundering watch list and ordered to take steps to avoid further financial punishment. Although the country has tried to stop money laundering by developing a strategic implementation plan, it has been unsuccessful. The main factor for money-laundering in Myanmar is opium and synthetic drug production. Further, illegal jade mining, arms trafficking, and logging contribute to the problem. Being grey-listed does not carry any sanctions, but will lead to more monitoring of Myanmar’s financial activities and might affect access to loans from foreign institutions, such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. [Reuters] [Myanmar Times]

International Relations, Geopolitics and Security in Asia

China-USA relations: Washington imposes new rules on Chinese state-owned media

(dql) In a move likely to burden Sino-US relations, the USA has announced that five major Chinese state-run media entities with U.S. operations are treated as foreign missions. As such, they are required to comply with rules governing embassies and consulates, including registering their employees and U.S. properties with the State Department and receiving US government approval to buy property.

US officials justified this move by arguing that these state-media are “part and parcel of the People's Republic of China propaganda machine”, working “100% for the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.” [CNN]

Beijing strongly rejected the move calling it “totally unjustified and unacceptable”. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China]

China ready for trade deal with UK

(dql) Providing Prime Minister Boris Johnson political tailwind, China has announced that it is ready for talks on a trade deal with the United Kingdom. The announcement comes at a time when London and Brussels are bracing for complicated trade negotiations after the UK’s departure from the European Union. [Sky News]

Cross-strait relations: Czech companies threatened over Taiwan visit

(dql) In a latest example demonstrating China's attempts to cut off Taiwan's partners and international relations, Beijing has threatened to retaliate against Czech companies over a planned visit of the Czech Senate speaker Jaroslav Kubera to Taiwan. A letter by China’s embassy in Prague to the Czech president’s office contains the warning that Czech companies operating in China “will have to pay" for breaking the 'One China Policy'. [The Diplomat]

China to release water from dams as disputes along the Mekong river mount

(ls) China has announced to release more water from its dams on the Mekong River in order to help downstream neighbors cope with a prolonged drought. The government also said to consider sharing information on hydrology to provide further assistance in the future. Water disputes along the river are likely to occur more frequently over the coming years. In the past four months, Laos has opened two dams on the mainstream Lower Mekong and is expected to begin construction later this year on a third dam near the city of Luang Prabang. [Reuters]

Last week, the Fifth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers' Meeting was held in Vientiane, Laos. A brief report outlining Chinese positions can be found on the website of [China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs].

Previously, Thailand had cancelled an infrastructure project, the Lancang-Mekong Navigation Channel Improvement Project – also known as the Mekong “rapids blasting” project – along its border with Laos. The Chinese-led project aimed to blast and dredge parts of the Mekong riverbed to remove rapids so that it could be used by cargo ships, creating a link from China’s southwestern province of Yunnan to ports in Thailand, Laos and the rest of Southeast Asia. In the face of currently visible effects of environmental degradation, the Thai government decided not to pursue the project, which is a setback for China. [South China Morning Post]

Japan renews claims over islets controlled by South Korea

(dql) Tensions between Japan and South Korea have flared after Tokyo renewed claims to Seoul-controlled islets in the Sea of Japan calling them “an inherent territory” of Japan.

South Korea lodged a strong protest against the action. [Kyodo News] [Korea Times]

India-US relations: Trump visits India with defense deals in focus

(jk) After a day of mega events and great fanfare amid US President Trump's visit to India, the second day of the visit focused more on policy issues and details about the future relationship.

The two leaders signed MoUs and discussed defense, security, energy strategic partnership, trade and people to people ties. As was expected, Trump declared the two countries expanded defense cooperation with agreements for India to purchase more than US$ 3 billion of American military equipment, including helicopters for the navy, air-defense radars and missiles, rifles and other equipment. [The Straits Times] India has previously signaled that it will continue to spend big on defense equipment and will remain among the world's biggest arms-importers. [Nikkei]  

It has also been announced that in discussion on a major trade deal that have now begun, both side made "tremendous progress", however, there is currently no timeline for the talks.  [Indian Express]

Parallel to the visit, in the capital on Monday, at least seven people were killed and over 150 injured during protests over the new citizenship law. [Channel News Asia]

South China Sea: New standoff between Malaysia and Vietnam questions solidarity versus China

(ls) The U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has published evidence of vessel movements in the South China Sea that indicate an ongoing standoff between Malaysian, Vietnamese and Chinese ships. In its report that outlines confrontations between Malaysian and Vietnamese ships, the center’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) questions why the Malaysian government chose to ignore a 2009 joint submission with Vietnam about continental shelf claims and, in so doing, “undermined whatever solidarity Southeast Asian parties might hope to build in their oil and gas disputes with Beijing.” [AMTI] [South China Morning Post]

Indonesia to revoke passports of IS fighters

(tk) Indonesia has announced to revoke passports of its nationals who have joined the IS terrorist group in Syria and Iraq. Currently, 689 of Indonesians have been identified as such. With this action, Indonesia aims to prevent them from coming back into their home country. An exception will be made for children aged under 10 years old who are without parents due to the special protection of children under the Protection of Children Law 2004. Additionally, Indonesia has boosted patrols and surveillance in the border areas of the vast archipelago, especially at the border to the southern Philippines. [Xinhua] [The Diplomat]

Background Reading

South Korea’s “New Southern Policy” towards ASEAN countries

(ls) A “Perspective” published by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute assess South Korea’s New Southern Policy towards ASEAN countries. It argues that South Korea needs to develop more broad-based economic engagement across ASEAN member states to overcome its over-concentration on Vietnam, foster two-way exchanges that improve ASEAN’s market access, and articulate a coherent idea of regional cooperation that supports ASEAN-led mechanisms and the open, inclusive and rules-based regional architecture. [ISEAS]

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