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Asia in Review

No. 4, January/2020, 4

Brought to you by CPG

Dear Readers, 

Welcome to the fourth issue of ‘Asia in Review’ (AiR) in January 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/Hong Kong: Chief Executive says she will not step down

(dql) Embattled Hong Chief Executive Carrie Lam used the international stage of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week to reiterate her refusal to step down over the ongoing unrest and to criticize the West for agenda-driven “disproportionate” coverage of the protests stating that she felt there was “something at work” behind the West’s interest in the Hong Kong protests though she would lack conclusive evidence. [South China Morning Post] [Hong Kong Free Press]

Lam’s resignation is among the demands of the protesters, together with universal suffrage in the upcoming Legislative Council election in September and an independent inquiry into police conduct during the protests. Beijing, however, has repeatedly confirmed its support for her.

South Korea: Prosecution reshuffle stirs up political backlash

(dql) Last week South Korea’s Ministry of Justice announced a second round of reshuffle of prosecutors, following a first earlier this month. [Air No. 2, January/2020, 2]

Raising critics about the political nature of this move, the reshuffle replaces senior prosecutors who have been leading investigations into high-profile election fraud and corruption cases involving former and current presidential officials. Opposition parties accused the Moon government of  “unprecedentedly blatant obstruction of justice”, “trampling on the rule of law” and leading the country onto the “path to dictatorship.”

The Ministry rejected these critics arguing that other key prosecutors investigating the cases remain in their posts. [Yonhap] [Korea Herald]

In a related development, the leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) announced that his party, is case of a victory in the April legislative election, would push a constitutional reform that would “prevent an imperial presidential system” whose harmful manifestations, according to him, are apparent under Moon's administration. [Korea Times]

Taiwan: KMT reform on the way

(dql) The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) last week decided to set a committee to carry out reforms of the party in four main areas, including the party's organization, cross-Taiwan Strait narrative, finances, and youth involvement, with preliminary reform recommendations expected to be presented to the party's Central Standing Committee by end of March. [Focus Taiwan]

The move comes two weeks after the KMT lost the presidential election and failed to meet expectations in the legislative election winning only 38 of the 113 parliamentary seats. In an earlier move, KMT’s leadership resigned en masse to take responsibility for the disappointing election results. [AiR No. 3, January/2020, 3]

Law and Politics in South Asia 

India: Supreme Court refuses to put CAA on hold as protests continue on Republic Day

(tk/jk) The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that it will not put the disputed Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed last month and the exercise of the National Population Register (NPR) on hold. It granted the Government four weeks to respond to the 143 petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law. [The Hindu Business Line] The three-judge bench also decided to refer the petitions to a five-judge constitution bench. [India Today 1]

Petitioners are disappointed by the suspension of the decision. To them “justice delayed is justice denied”. In their opinion, the government should demonstrate willingness to seek a judicial closure in the matter that had led to brutal violence throughout the country. [Al Jazeera] [Asia in Review, December/2019, 5]

On January 26, the Indian Republic Day, which Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro attended as chief guest [India Today 2], hundred thousands of protesters across India used that day to enter the streets and to express their strong will to continue their protests until the CAA is withdrawn. [India Today 3]

Meanwhile, the Indian government is increasingly refusing the right to emergency health care for some. Medical establishments have confirmed that the police told them not to admit wounded protesters, alleging others would attack ambulances trying to reach victims and block doctors from treating protesters. The approach of the police has support from some hospital owners: “The police were right – a whole mob would have followed the injured people into our hospital if we treated them. It was better for us to send them off.” Art. 18 of the fourth Geneva Convention bars the targeting of medical facilities even in time of war. [OZY]

India: Partly restoration of internet access in Kashmir

(tk) In response to the Indian Constitutional Court’s ruling from January 10, in which it declared the long-term internet shutdown in Kashmir as illegal, low-speed mobile internet was restored on Saturday in Kashmir. Eight million people were suffering from this internet suspension nearly for six months after the Centre decided on August 5 last year to revoke Article 370 provisions that gave the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir special status. [Asia in Review No. 2, January 2020]

The restoration applied to 301 websites approved by the administration including search engines and those associated with banking, education, news, travel, utilities and employment. However, people could not access most of the websites due to the 2G data limitation. Affected people are frustrated and call the restauration “a joke”. They say, “it is just a game to tell people we have restored internet services, but on the ground, it doesn’t work and is of no use”. [The Hindu] [The New York Times]

The partial restauration of internet access was then again interrupted on Saturday evening as a precautionary measure for Republic Day on Sunday. [The Hindu] Officials said, low speed internet service was restored on Sunday evening. [Hindustan Times]

Sri Lanka: Government plans to walks back on UN obligations made after civil war

(tk/jk) After the 30-year civil war, the previous Sri Lankan administration made commitments at the U.N. Human Rights Council in October 2015 which included the obligations to set up an office for missing persons and to establish legal mechanisms to investigate alleged war. "The Rajapaksa government now wants the Office of Missing Persons to shutter operations" and plans a new law "to grant immunity to Sri Lankan soldiers who had allegedly committed war crimes during the conflict." [Nikkei Asian Review]

In response to the Sri Lankan president’s statement of last week declaring that more than 23.500 missing Tamils were dead, [Asia in Review No. 3, January/2020] the EU as one of its major trading partners came out with a statement making clear it would use its economic relations to motivate Sri Lanka to remain committed to its human rights obligations.  [EEAS]

Pakistan: Pashtun social movement leader arrested

(fs) In the north-western city of Peshawar, a leader of the Pakistani Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) was arrested on Monday along with nine other members on accounts of alleged sedition and criminal conspiracy. The authorities registered the criminal case based on an anti-military speech he gave earlier in January. A 14-day-detention was later confirmed by a court to investigate the charges.

Over the last two years, PTM rose as a major critic of the powerful Pakistani military, blaming it for alleged enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings under the cover of fighting Islamic terrorism. The organisation has been responsible for nationwide mostly peaceful rallies, demanding justice for victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings and alleged torture while in security forces' custody. A PTM speaker claimed the authorities’ actions are the “punishment for demanding our (PTM's) rights in a peaceful & democratic manner”. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both condemned the arrest and demanded immediate release. [BBC] [Human Rights Watch] [VOA]

Bangladesh: Lawmaker calls for extrajudicial executions

(tk) According to Human Rights Watch, extrajudicial killings have become so widespread in Bangladesh that even a legislator openly recommended them as a way of dealing with the country’s high levels of rape. Amid protests over the recent rape of a student, the legislator told the parliament that “the only remedy is killing rapists ‘in crossfire’ after their confession” and “if we can take instant actions through ‘crossfire’ on drug-related issues, then why can’t we follow the same in case of rapists?”. In 2019, there were more than 300 “crossfire” killings for which no member of the security forces was held accountable. [Human Rights Watch]

Bhutan: Nationwide Goods and Service Tax introduced

(jk) Bhutan's Ministry of Finance has introduced a 7 percent Goods and Service Taxes (GST), replacing other multiple sales and customs taxes. The tax will apply nationwide. [Tax Scan]

Law and Politics in Southeast Asia 

Myanmar: ICJ orders provisional measures to protect Rohingya from genocide

(ls/tk) The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled last Thursday to impose provisional measures on Myanmar, demanding the government to take action to prevent future acts of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim community. By ordering the measures, the ICJ only indicated that it is plausible that genocide occurred, that there is a link between The Gambia’s claims and the provisional measures requested, and that the Rohingya are still in danger of “irreparable harm”. In these proceedings, the Court did not need to decide on the merits. [Frontier Myanmar]

Besides ordering Myanmar to ensure that no acts of genocide occur, the Court also ordered the government to take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence, and to submit a report to the Court on all measures taken within four months, and then every six months, until a final decision on the case is rendered by the Court. [International Court of Justice]

According to experts, such monitoring system is rarely seen, and it perhaps reflects concerns arising from the Bosnian Genocide case, where a provisional measures order of April 1993 had to be followed by another in September 1993, and both were of no avail, as the Srebrenica genocide continued. [Opinio Juris]

Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it was “important for Myanmar that the Court reaches a factually correct decision on the merits of the case”. It also said that NGOs presented a “distorted picture” of the situation in Rakhine state. The word “Rohingya” was absent from the Ministry’s statement. [Al Jazeera] The ICJ, however, recognized that “the Rohingya appear to constitute a protected group within the meaning of Article II of the Genocide Convention” (para. 52, 23 January Order).

Rohingya groups, as well as human rights organizations and the Gambian Justice Minister have welcomed the decision as a triumph of international law and international justice. However, some Burmese people described the ruling as “unfair and unjust” and said the day of the court’s decision was “a tragic day for Myanmar”. According to them, “the judges were blind and deaf and didn’t know the real situation in the country”. The Bangladesh Government hopes that Myanmar will take back all the Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh after the deadly military attacks and will provide them security. [BBC]

Meanwhile, it was reported that Myanmar troops have shelled a Rohingya village on Saturday. Two women were killed, and seven other people injured in the apparent attack. The military denied responsibility, saying that rebels attacked a bridge. Besides violence committed against Rohingya people, the region was plunged into further chaos by new fights between the military and the Arakan Army, a rebel group that recruits from the mostly Buddhist majority in the state. [Reuters 1]

In order to ease the tensions, the Arakan Army had released a member of parliament of the ruling National League for Democracy party (NLD), who had been abducted in an attack on a boat in November. [Reuters 2]

Singapore: Latest POFMA enforcement sparks resistance from Malaysian NGO

(ls/fs) Singapore’s enforcement of its new Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) continues to meet resistance. Last week, the government ordered local access to a website to be blocked for failing to comply with a correction directive issued under the online falsehoods law. The operator of the site is the Malaysia-based human rights organization Lawyers for Liberty. The article that triggered the Singaporean government to issue a correction directive under POFMA dealt with judicial executions in Singapore and claimed that officers used unlawful and brutal methods. As Lawyers for Liberty did not comply with the correction directive, Singapore’s Minister of Communications and Information on Thursday ordered industry regulator Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) to issue the access blocking orders. [ZDNet]

In response, Lawyers for Liberty has filed a lawsuit against Singaporean Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam in Malaysia’s High Court. The group argues that the law is a violation of fundamental human rights and cannot be enforced in Malaysia as it goes against domestic public policy. Moreover, the organization has maintained that its allegations stem from credible sources, including prison guards that have worked for or are currently working for the prison system in Singapore. [South China Morning Post]

Lawyers for Liberty announced on their website that, since the Singaporean government’s intervention, the organization’s website has experienced a “great increase” in traffic coming mainly from Singapore: “This shows that banning websites or information is always counter-productive. The Singapore government should instead have responded with facts and rational arguments.” [Lawyers for Liberty]

In a post on its government website “Factually”, Singapore’s government presents its side of the story. [Singapore Government]

Thailand: Budget bill up in the air as MPs raise voting irregularities

(ls) 174 Members of Thailand’s House of Representatives have requested a Constitutional Court ruling on the validity of the 3.2-trillion baht budget bill for the 2020 fiscal year. The request came after it became apparent that at least two MPs of the Bhumjaithai party did not vote in person; rather, other MPs voted on behalf of them. According to Sec. 120(3) of the 2017 Constitution, each MP has one vote. [Bangkok Post 1]

In this case, the Court might be guided by a relevant precedent. In March 2014, the Constitutional Court had ruled that a 2-trillion-baht loan bill sponsored by the Yingluck government was unconstitutional after some Pheu Thai MPs had used voting cards on behalf of their colleagues. Regarding the current case, also Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said proxy voting was wrong. [Bangkok Post 2] [Bangkok Post 3]

Thailand: New hope for the deep south as government and rebel group meet

(ls) Thai officials have held their first formal meeting in recent years with Muslim separatists from southern Thailand belonging to the Barisan Revolusi Nasional Melayu Patani, or BRN, the major rebel group operating in the area. The head of BRN’s delegation, Anas Abdulrahman, said that the two sides had agreed on a framework and terms of reference to guide their talks on ending the conflict in a way that would be real and sustainable. Since the current insurgency started in 2004 in the three southernmost provinces, about 7,000 civilians, soldiers, government workers and rebels have died in the violence. [Khaosod English]

Cambodia: International apparel brands pressure Cambodia for labor law reform

(fs) Leading global fashion brands, among them Puma, Adidas and Levi Strauss wrote a letter to Cambodia’s government in which they appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to amend a trade union law, repeal the law on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and drop all outstanding criminal charges against union leaders. Reason for this letter is the country’s record on labor and human rights threatening to evoke trade sanctions from the European Union.

In its preliminary record, the EU prospected the temporary suspension of the Everything But Arms (EBA) trade preferences if Cambodia would not undertake extensive changes in matters of the human rights’ situation [Asia in Review, No. 47, November/2019, 3], which in turn would affect the located fashion industry.

According to the brands’ letter “the credibility of Cambodia’s apparel, footwear, and travel goods sectors are at stake”. Nearly half of Cambodia’s textile industry export is distributed in Europe. Employing about 700,000 people and accounting for 40 percents of the GDP, it is the county’s biggest industry. [Reuters]

A Cambodian official labeled the letter as “uncouth” and says it should be seen as an “intervention in the country’s legal system and matters which concerns political stability” and advised that the brands should instead “urge the EU on this matter as they have an equal responsibility in this”. [Khmer Times]

A final decision about the temporary suspension of the EBA trade preferences will be made in February.

Philippines: More corruption, less democracy and worse economy under Duterte

(tk) Even though President Rodrigo Duterte got elected in 2016 for his anti-corruption promises, the Philippines is getting more corrupt and less democratic under his presidency. According to the Corruption Perception Index reported by Transparency International, The Philippines slid down 18 notches since 2015. On the Economic Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index it slid down 4 places since 2016. Further, gross domestic product growth in 2019 was the slowest in eight years. Many worry Duterte is merely empowering a new business elite and worsening the extreme concentration of wealth and power among a handful of landowning families. [Forbes] [Nikkei Asian Review]

Indonesia: Papuans refuse to remove penis gourds in Jakarta court

(ls) According to a report that vividly illustrates different cultural traditions and practices existing side by side in Indonesia, two Papuan activists on trial for treason in Jakarta refused to remove traditional penis gourds. After several hours of negotiations, the men, also wearing Papuan headgear with their faces painted, agreed to put on trousers. They accused the court of racism. Papua has seen several incidents of violence in recent months, partly linked to a push for independence and racism against Papuans. [Free Malaysia Today]

International Relations, Geopolitics and Security in Asia

China-USA relations: New special envoy to counter growing Chinese influence at the United Nations appointed

(dql) Mark Lambert, until recently the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, has been appointed a new special envoy tasked with countering China’s growing influence at the United Nations and other international organizations. Lambert’s first major challenge will be to prevent a Chinese candidate from being elected the new Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization. The election in scheduled for March 5-6, with ten candidates vying for the top post. [Foreign Policy]

The move reflects Washington’s concerns over Beijing’s success in rallying the United Nations behind key foreign-policy initiatives and securing influential positions at the top of international organizations, including the post of the World Bank's Chief Administrative Officer and Managing Director earlier this month,  and the Chief of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union, and President of the International Organisation of Standardisation in 2019. [Straits Times]

In a related development, the ICAO has been criticized for blocking Twitter accounts criticizing ICAO's continued exclusion of Taiwan in time s of international public health crises. [Axios] [Focus Taiwan]

China rejects US call for trilateral arms talks

(dql) Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva last week, the U.S. disarmament ambassador called on China to join trilateral nuclear arms talks with Russia, saying that Beijing’s secrecy around growing stockpiles was “serious threat to strategic stability”. [Voice of America]

In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the appeal declaring that “China has no intention of participating in any trilateral arms control talks with the US and Russia,” while Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov said that Russia would partake these talks, but “won’t force China to change” its current position. [Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China] [Russia Today]

South Korea not to join U.S.-led International Maritime Security Construct

(dql) South Korea announced that its Navy’s Cheonghae antipiracy unit, currently safeguarding international shipping in the Gulf of Aden, will have its operational range expanded to include the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. The unit will, however, not join the U.S.-led International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC). But Seoul also declared that the unit will cooperate with the IMSC when needed and that it is planning to send two officers from unit to the IMSC headquarters as liaison officers for cooperation in information sharing. [Korea Times]

Seoul’s decision is the attempt to satisfy a twofold interest: cooperation with the USA, country’s biggest ally, and Iran, one of the country’s biggest trade partners in the Middle East.

Currently, the IMSC includes the USA, Saudi Arabia, the U.K. and Bahrain.

North Korea: Nuclear freeze pledge abandoned

(dql) Prospects for a resumption of stalled North-Korean-U.S. denuclearization talks look bleak, after Pyongyang announced at last week’s Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that it was no longer bound by commitments to halt nuclear and missile testing. It justified this decision with Washington’s failure to meet the 2019 year-end deadline for nuclear talks and with the Trump administration’s “brutal and inhumane” sanctions. [ABC]

Japan-Poland relations: Energy cooperation to be deepened

(dql) During last week’s summit between Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Japanese counter Shinzo Abe, both countries reached an agreement on deepening cooperation on hydrogen and nuclear power as well as coal power generation with lower greenhouse gas emissions. [Mainichi]

The agreement comes shortly after coal-reliant Poland, which produces around 80% of its power from coal and which was the only EU member state not to take part in the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality goal last year, earlier this month became the top beneficiary of the €100-billion EU climate fund with which the European Commission aims to assist coal-reliant regions to shift from fossil fuels to a greener economy and more sustainable energy mix. [Kafkadesk]

India announces shortlisted cooperation partners for its submarine acquisition program

(jk) India announced a shortlist of domestic and foreign defence companies for the eventual domestic construction of six diesel-electric submarines worth over US$7 billion. In addition to the domestic companies, original equipment, knowledge and technology-providing companies considered are from Russia, France, Spain, Germany and South Korea. The final selection is not expected to be made before 2022. [Defense News]

Pakistan: Successful ballistic missile test launch

(fs) Pakistan announced the successful test launch of a ballistic missile, capable of delivering multiple types of warheads up to 290 km day and night. The test marked the second successful launch after one in August last year, shortly following the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan over revoking Kashmir’s autonomy. [Economic Times]

Thailand benefiting from Chinese investment due to U.S.-China trade war

(ls) Throughout the year 2019, Southeast Asian economies have largely benefited from the U.S.-China trade war as Chinese investors relocated their production bases. As for Thailand, China has become the country’s biggest foreign investor for the first time, replacing Japan. Chinese direct investment in Thailand jumped nearly five times to 262 billion baht ($8.6 billion) in 2019 from the previous year, far exceeding Japan's 73.1 billion baht. [Nikkei Asian Review]

U.S.-Philippines tensions over political visa bans

(ls) Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has warned the United States he would repeal the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), an agreement on deployment of troops and equipment for exercises, after U.S. authorities decided to deny entry to Ronaldo dela Rosa, a former police chief who is now a senator. Dela Rosa was responsible for the implementation of Duterte’s “drug war”, during which up to 20,000 people have been killed. The U.S. visa decision came as the Philippines banned U.S. senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy from entering the country after they had introduced a draft bill calling for the ban on U.S. entry to anyone involved in locking up Philippine senator Leila de Lima. De Lima is a former justice minister and one of Duterte’s top critics. She was jailed in 2017 on drug charges. [Reuters]

EU committee greenlights free trade agreement with Vietnam

(fs) The European Committee on International Trade has approved the free trade and investment protection agreements between the EU and Vietnam. This was preceded by almost eight-year negotiations. It is the largest free trade agreement the EU has ever had with a developing country.

Over the next ten years, many elements will be put into effect such as 99 percent of all customs duties on both sides will be abolished, a reduce of non-tariff trade barriers and bureaucratic hurdles by Vietnam, and increasingly introducing international standards and accepting EU certificates, an enhanced emblematic protection of 169 EU and 39 Vietnamese products and the market access for European and Vietnamese companies is to be facilitated. Furthermore, the agreement contains legally binding rules concerning sustainable development in matters of climate, labor and human rights.

The committee also approved an investment protection agreement with Vietnam. Unlike the free trade agreement, this not only has to be adopted by the Parliament and the Council but must also be ratified by each member state afterwards. The vote on the trade deal will be set in the Parliament’s February session in Strasbourg. After Singapore, Vietnam is the second largest EU trading partner in ASEAN. [European Parliament] [DW, in German]

Malaysia sends back trash, refusing to be “garbage dump of the world”

(fs) Once again, Malaysia sends containers of illegally exported plastic waste back to the countries of origin. The environment minister Yeo Bee Yin said that nothing would be paid for the returns.

According to Yin, 150 containers with a total of 3,737 tons of waste are on the way to France, Great Britain, the USA and Canada, among others. 110 more would follow soon, 60 of them to the USA. Malaysia had already returned containers with plastic waste several times last year.

China, which had imported a large part of the plastic waste for recycling for a long time, decided in 2018 to stop processing used plastic from other countries in order to improve its own environmental balance. Since then, large quantities of plastic have been illegally brought to Southeast Asia. Many Chinese recycling companies moved to Malaysia, and plastic waste imports into the country tripled from 2016 to 2019. [CNN] [Business Insider]

Background Reading

On the importance of female workers for India’s future economic growth

(dql) Against the background of a lowest growth rate of India’s economy for 11 years expected for 2020 and unprecedented unemployment levels, Ankita Shree underscores the need for an increase in the female workforce as a pre-condition of an economic recovery in India, where women currently contribute to 17% of the national GDP, compared with the global average of 40%. [Asia Dilaogue]

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