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Asia in Review

No. 53, December/2019, 5

Brought to you by CPG

Dear Readers,

With this last issue of the Asia in Review in 2019, we wish you all a very happy New Year. Thank you for your kind feedback and expect an improved format of the AiR in 2020.

With our best wishes,

Henning Glaser, Jan Kliem, Duc Quang Ly, Lasse Schuldt

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/Hong Kong: Protests continues into the New Year

(dql) In Hong Kong Christmas was marked by anti-government protests with protesters blocking roads, occupying shopping centers and vandalizing businesses deemed to be sympathetic to the government. Riot police used tear gas and fired pepper balls to disperse the crowds. [CNN]

Meanwhile, the city experiences protests on this New Year’s Eve facing more than 6000 police officers deployed to control them. [South China Morning Post]

After more than seven months of unrest, protests are thus seamlessly continuing into the new year with a solution of the political crisis still being unforeseeable as both sides seem unwilling to compromise.

China to rewrite Bible, Quran and other religious books  

(dql) The Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China’s top legislative advisory body, confirmed last week an order of the Communist Party of China in late November that requires the Bible, the Quran and other religious books to undergo editorial revisions to ‘reflect socialist values.’ Paragraphs deemed contradicting beliefs of the Party will be amended or re-translated. [Daily Mail]

The move comes amid growing criticism over Beijing’s Uighur policy in Xinjiang and tightening ideological control over religion in the country at large.

In a related development, Wang Yi, a Protestant pastor and founder of one of China’s largest unregistered churches who openly criticized the Communist government, was sentence by a court to nine years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power and illegally operating a business. [Amnesty International]

Wang was among dozens of churchgoers and leaders of the church detained by police in December 2018. Most were subsequently released. [The Independent] [AiR 2/12/2018]

China liberalizes draconian punishments for sex workers

(dql) China’s legislature scrapped the so-called “custody and education” punishment system, an extra-judicial system of forced labor under which the police were allowed to hold sex workers and their clients without charge for up to two years. Prostitution, however, remains illegal punishable with up to 15 days in detention and fines of maximum 5,000 yuan (715 USD). [Reuters]

South Korea: Contentious bills to reform prosecutorial and electoral system approved

(dql) South Korea’s parliament passed a contentious bill to reform the country’s prosecution and to launch a special investigative body charged with investigating corruption cases involving high-ranking officials and their family members. The main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) fiercely objected the bill, with their lawmakers walking out of the plenary session in protest to abstain from voting. [Korea Herald]

In an earlier development, the equally controversial bill on the reform of the parliamentary electoral system, which introduces a new proportional representation system and lowers the voting age from 19 to 18, was passed last week, again with the LKP again heavily protesting the vote. [Korea Times]

The fierce clash over both bills, in particular between the ruling Democratic Party and the LKP, had seen mass rallies, hunger strikes and filibusters staged, disrupting and partly even paralyzing operations of the National Assembly for months.

South Korea: Conscientious objection to military service improved but still stigmatized

(dql) Also last week, the parliament amended the country’s Military Service Act allowing conscientious objectors to avoid criminalization and imprisonment for 18 months. Those refusing military service are, however, required to fulfill 36 months of alternative service at prisons or other correctional facilities. [Yonhap]

Amnesty International, while acknowledging a positive signal, criticized the alternative service at prisons or other correctional facilities as rather an “alternative punishment”, arguing that conscientious objectors will continue to be stigmatized in society “as having been sent to jail” and their ability to access employment afterwards expected to be compromised. [Amnesty International]

Japan: Official demographic data reveal worsening population crisis

(dql) Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has revealed statistical data confirming the worsening of the country’s population crisis.  

The estimated number of babies born in the country in 2019 fell to 864,000, marking the lowest number since records began in 1899 and continuing the ‘below one million’ mark for the fourth consecutive year. Deaths in 2019 also hit a postwar record high of 1.376 million, resulting in a natural population decline of 512,000, the highest ever. [CNN][Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan, in Japanese]

Taiwan: Anti-infiltration law against China passed

(dql) Less than two weeks ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections in which the relations to China play a decisive role, Taiwan’s legislature passed an anti-infiltration law to counter perceived threats from China.

The move concludes years-long efforts to combat what many in Taiwan view as Beijing’s efforts to influence politics and the democratic process by means of illicit funding of politicians and media and other underhand methods. [Reuters 1]

In November, Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) had initiated a renewed push for the legislation which proposes a maximum penalty of seven years in prison for requesting and engaging with external “infiltration sources” to endanger Taiwan’s political system and its democratic procedures. The main opposition party, the Kuomintang, has slammed the legislation as a politically motivated move of President Tsai Ing-wen and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to gain votes in the presidential and legislative elections. [AiR No. 48, November/2019, 4] [Reuters 2]

Law and Politics in South Asia 

India: Continued protests over Citizen Amendment Act (CAA)

(jk/lf) The nation-wide protests against the CAA [Asia in Review, No. 51, December/2019, 3] continue to unravel across the country into their third week. As reported last week, Indian authorities have stepped up security measure and cut down on mobile internet in several states. In Uttar Pradesh (one of India´s most populous states, with 20% of the population Muslim), protest and police backlash have been especially violent. 19 of the 27 protestors killed during the protests thus far have died there and thousands have been detained. [Al Jazeera]

For many observers, more is at stake behind the protests than the new CAA. Protestors are concerned about the redefinition of India – a secular state according to the Constitution - as a Hindu nation, as well as a crackdown on democratic values by what is perceived as a creeping development towards authoritarian governance.[ The Guardian]

Pakistan: UN heavily criticizes death verdict for academic

(fs/jk) Responding to the death sentence of university lecturer Junaid Hafeez for blasphemy after a six-year process [Asia in Review No. 52, December/2019, 4], UN human rights experts evaluated the verdict as a “travesty of justice”. The judge's decision against the 33-year-old was made despite dubious evidence and therefore carrying it out would amount to an arbitrary killing, says a UN statement. [UN News]

An opinion piece comes to the unforgiving conclusion: "It is a disgrace that the country cannot at least amend the black law to curb its misuse. But then, the sad reality is that four decades after military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq’s Islamisation programme, Pakistan’s society is so radicalised now that not even a reasoned talk about rewriting, let alone repealing, the blasphemy law is possible." [Observer Research Foundation]

Pakistan calls U.S. religious freedom designation “arbitrary"

(fs) After the U.S. Department of State declared last week that it designated Pakistan among other countries as a “country of particular concern for having engaged in or tolerated ‘systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom’” [U.S. Department of State Statement], Pakistan’s Foreign Offices rejected the designation and classifies it as the result of a biased and unilateral evaluation. Reasons for the U.S. government’s designation are the steadily reoccurring cases of crimes targeting ethnic or religious minorities and the disproportionate use of its strict blasphemy laws, which either results in death sentences or lax persecution of blasphemy related lynching. [Al Jazeera]

Law and Politics in Southeast Asia 

Thailand: Journalist gets two years over libelling poultry farm on Twitter

(jk) A Thai court sentenced a Thai TV journalist to two years in prison over defamation charges against a Thai chicken farm. The company behind the farm made negative headlines in 2016 when a group of migrant workers made a complaint to Thailand's National Human Rights Commission about conditions there such as 20 hour days work without any days off, confiscating IDs, and paying below the minimum wage.

Previously, a court sentenced the company to pay compensation and dismissed the defamation case brought forward by the company against the workers. The company however continued to file lawsuits against others who shared the allegations on Twitter for "hurt[ing] the company's interests" by public statements. Among those are the now sentenced journalist - who is planning to appeal -, as well as former Human Rights Commissioner Angkhana Neelapaijit. [Bangkok Post]

Cambodia: Hearing against Cambodia Daily reporters delayed by court

(fs) A hearing in the process against two former Cambodia Daily reporters is postponed by the provincial court for an indefinite period, citing the absence of a judge. [VOD]

Both journalists, who currently do not reside in the country, were filed with charges of “incitement to commit a felony” in August 2017 for conducting interviews of registered voters regarding a community election during which local officials urged journalists not to interview residents. If convicted, the journalists face up to two years in prison.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch called the prosecutor’s decision “intended to intimidate all of Cambodia’s journalists” and demanded to “drop these bogus charges and the government should end its efforts to restrict press freedom by criminalizing independent reporting.” [Human Rights Watch]

Singapore: Opposition leader criticizes biased use of POFMA

(fs) The leader of the oppositional People's Voice party Lim Tean accused the government of mostly targeting opposition parties by the new Protection from Online Falsehood and Manipulation Act (POFMA) in anticipation of the upcoming elections "to silence its opponents and chill public discussion of unpopular government policies.”

The accusation was made in a Facebook post, following a directive he received from the government relating to a prior post he made on the social media website, condemning the education policy under the ruling People's Action Party. The directive ordered Lim Tean to change the post due to it being “false and misleading”.

Since the installation of POFMA nearly three months ago, opposition party figures have been targets in three of four cases of correction directives for matters of “public interest”. According to the law’s definition, “public interest” also includes preventing influencing the outcome presidential or parliamentary elections. [Nikkei Asian Review]

Such a definition bears an enormous political risk for political opponents as the ruling party is now in a position to direct corrections concerning statements made by political enemies ahead of upcoming elections to eliminate these in order to maintain itself in power.

It seems that the criticism against Singapore’s government of POFMA does not break off, with the bespoken incident following last week’s open letter of Singapore’s High Commissioner Foo Chi Hsia harshly defending the act against British newspaper The Economist’s evaluation. [Asia in Review No. 52, December/2019, 4]

Indonesia: Revival of truth and reconciliation commission?

(lf/jk) [Reuters] reports that Indonesia plans to revive the truth and reconciliation commission to investigate state-led human rights violations. The commission - abandoned in 2004 by a constitutional court ruling- was supposed to bring closure to the wrongdoings during the Suharto dictatorship. The most important investigation looks into the 1965 crackdown on communist and alleged communist sympathisers, in which at least estimated 500,000 people were killed in a massive anti-communist crackdown that targeted also many Chinese. [The Conversation, with more information on the war against the PKI]

Myanmar: UNGA passes resolution condemning human rights abuses against Rohingya

(lf) After Aung San Suu Kyi rejected allegations of genocide at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this month, the UN general assembly has passed a resolution condemning human rights abuses in Myanmar against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities with 134 of the 193 member states voting in favour and 9 against it.

The resolution calls for an end to the fighting, which started in 2017, as well as ending the statelessness of almost all Rohingya which are seen as Bengalis, rather than Burmese by the government since 1982.  In addition, the UN approved a budget for the investigation of human rights abuses in Myanmar and Syria upending Russian attempts to stop it. [The Guardian] [BBC] 

Malaysia/Indonesia: Muslim protests against China’s treatment against Uighurs

(jk/fs) Hundreds of Muslims gathered in Kuala Lumpur to demonstrate against China’s mistreatment of its Muslim Uighur minority. Protesters mainly consisted of members of two Muslim groups, the Malaysian Muslim Youth Movement (ABIM) and the hardline pro-caliphate group Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia (HTM). Two representatives, one of each group, went to the People’s Republic of China’s embassy, but were declined entry.

HTM spokesman Abdul Hakim Othman demanded from the Malaysian government “to provide help to the Muslims of China as much as possible, including providing them space here if they should wish to seek protection”. Furthermore, he urged the government to suspend all political and economic ties with China and, in case of increasing hardships for fellow Muslim, even to issue a military warning of “jihad”. [MalayMail]

In Indonesia, in similar protests, over a thousand Muslims marched towards the Chinese embassy as well

While the Indonesian Security Minister told the government had summoned the Chinese Ambassador to explain the situation Xinjiang. [The Straits Times]

In mid-November this year, New York Times reported that more than 400 internal documents of the People’s Republic of China were leaked, revealing details of the brutal and organized crackdown of the Uighurs in the Xinjiang region, including the detention of more than one million people in internment camps. [Asia in Review No. 47, November/2019, 3]

Vietnam: Former minister sentenced to life imprisonment

(fs) A Vietnamese court sentenced the former minister of information and communications for life in a corruption case that also included over a dozen other official executives who received lengthy prison terms. He was sentenced for taking bribes during his time in office in the range of US$ 3 million to manage the purchase of the digital television service AVG on behalf of the state-owned mobile network operator MobiFone. [Vietnam News]

International Relations, Geopolitics and Security in Asia

China challenges US in telecommunication and space

(dql) China announced the completion of its satellite-based radio-navigation system network “Big Dipper” within the first half of 2020 to rival the U.S.-operated Global Positioning System (GPS). The move is a significant challenge to the U.S. hegemony over telecommunications infrastructure in an encompassing process of decoupling between China and the USA. [Tech Crunch]

Furthermore, China launched its hitherto biggest rocket, the Long March 5, deploying the Shijian 20 communications satellite in the designated orbit. With this 34th space launch of the year, China has carried out more space launches than any other country, including the United States with 27. [Space.com] [South China Morning Post]

Shortly before, US President Trump signed into law the “National Defense Authorization Act 2020 for Fiscal Year 2020” which officially establishes the U.S. Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces. Trump called “space [..] the world’s newest warfighting domain. Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital. And we’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough.” [No. 52, December/2019, 4]

Russia, China and Iran launch war games in Indian Ocean

(jk) Russia, China and Iran launched their first joint naval exercise this week in the Indian Ocean extending as far as the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, one of the major choke points for global oil supplies. China and Iran have previously held exercises there in 2017.  [Financial Times] [Navy Times]

China-India relations: Huawei gets Indian government’s ok to participate in 5G trials

(dql) The Indian government allowed Chinese telecom company Huawei Technologies Co to participate in trials for 5G networks.  India’ move comes amid efforts of the USA to lobby allies to refrain from using Huawei’s network equipment in their 5G networks. [Economic Times]

China-constructed Port City Colombo off Sri Lanka's coast - strategic competitors are looking closely

(jk) A Chinese-built island off Colombo, which is intended to become a kind of special economic zone, has been completed and officially handed over to Sri Lanka earlier this month. [Dredging Today] Critical observers see the strategic location of the island as the main reason for the Chinese investment and are particularly worried about the economic zone requiring "a new legal regime and regulations that some observers are likening to the 'one country, two systems' formula China uses with Hong Kong", which would also require a change to the country's constitution. The US and its allies fear a dual-use or even a purely military facility to be eventually set up there by China. [Nikkei Asian Review] 

Japan rejects participation in US-led coalition patrol force in the Strait of Hormuz

(dql) Amid heightened tensions between the USA and Iran, Japan’s government has announced that Japan will send a warship and patrol planes to protect Japanese ships in the Middle East as response to the volatility of the situation in the region, from which the country receives nearly 90% of its crude oil imports.

With this decision for an independent military unit operating in the areas of the region excluding the Strait of Hormuz, Japan, which is caught between its alliance with the USA and friendly ties with Iran, has refused to join a U.S.-led mission to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Tokyo, however, would “cooperate” with the U.S.-led force and may provide it with intelligence. [Japan Times]

North Korea: Kim Jong-un discusses “aggressive measures” to protect country’s sovereignty

(dql) North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly spoken about and discussed “proactive and aggressive political, diplomatic and military response measures for ensuring the country’s sovereignty and security” during a plenary of an ongoing meeting of the Central Committee of the North Korea’s ruling Workers' Party which kicked off last Saturday. He suggested action to be taken in the areas of foreign affairs, the munitions industry and armed forces.

While Kim failed to reveal details of these “measures”, his statement has raised concerns that Pyongyang will resume tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons as its self-imposed year-end deadline, set for Washington to come up with new offers to break the impasse of stalled denuclearizations talks, is drawing near without any moves made by the Trump administration. [Korea Herald] [CNBC]

In response, US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, urged Kim to wisely choose between two paths: one on which North Korea “can become like South Korea, and be a very prosperous, very wealthy country,” or another that “takes [North Korea] down the road of sanctions and isolation and being a pariah state.” [NK News]

Cambodia: Airstrip stirs more suspicions about China’s plans

(jk) Dara Sakor in Cambodia is located in the countries south along its coastline facing the Gulf of Thailand. For a while now, it has been a "Chinese investment zone that comprises 20 percent of Cambodia's coastline", and construction is booming. [Japan Times] [Asia in Review No. 30, July/2019, 4]

Recent Chinese activity there and "other nearby Chinese projects [are] stirring fears that Beijing plans to turn this small Southeast Asian nation into a de facto military outpost." Among the projects and due completion next year, are not only hotels and restaurants, but also crucial infrastructure projects such as port facilities and the Dara Sakor International Airport, set to become the longest runway in Cambodia. Chinese assurances of all infrastructure being purely for civil use has done little to dispel concern over the military or dual-use possibilities that come with building and running such infrastructure. [The New York Times]

Russia expands military ties with Laos beyond arms sales

(jk) Earlier in December, Russia and Laos launched their first-ever joint military exercise, "Laros 2019" [UrduPoint]. Albeit small, the exercise is seen as significant for bilateral relations as well as for the region as they could set an example for other countries to expand on their military ties with Russia and engage in more exercises, in addition to an already significant arms trade relationship. They also indicate Russia's ambitions to once again become a more militarily relevant force in a region the Soviet Union was once very active in. [Nikkei Asian Review]

Philippines US relations tense over Senator de Lima case

(lf) The Philippines has banned two US Senators from entering the country after the US Congress had approved a provision against all Philippine officials involved in the imprisonment of Senator de Lima. The Filipina Senator has been charged on drug offences in 2017 after she had led an investigation about the mass killings during Duterte´s war on drugs. President Duterte threatened to enforce visa requirement on US citizens should the US enforce sanctions against the Philippines. [Aljazeera]

Background Reading

Charting Convergence - Exploring the Intersection of the U.S. Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy and Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy

(jk) "The United States has advanced its vision for the region through the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy, which is founded on - and aims to protect - common principles that have benefitted all countries in the region. Taiwan upholds the same principles and has a similar vision for the Indo-Pacific. To this end, Taipei is implementing the New Southbound Policy (NSP), which seeks to leverage its cultural, educational, technological, agricultural, and economic assets to strengthen Taiwan’s relations across the Indo-Pacific."[CSIS]

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