9 Reporting on mainland

July 1, 2015 (WSJ) — China adopted a sweeping national-security law that the government says is needed to counter emerging threats but that critics say may be used to quash dissent and exclude foreign investment. Approved by the legislature’s standing committee, the law sets an expansive definition of national security that outlaws threats to China’s government, sovereignty and national unity as well as its economy, society, and...

May 8, 2015 — The PRC central government has published the second draft of its national security laws which for the first time specifically mentioned that the Hong Kong government has the responsibility to ensure national security. The draft came at a time when mainland and Hong Kong government officials alike were warning of a growing sentiment of independence in Hong Kong. The document did not specifically spell out any...

April 17, 2015 (China Media Project) — Veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu (高瑜), 71, was sentenced today to seven years in jail by Beijing’s No. 3 Intermediate People’s Court. She is accused of “illegally providing state secrets beyond [China’s] borders,” a charge stemming, many believe, from the leak in 2013 of the so-called “Document No. 9,” in which the Chinese Communist Party restricted discussion of a range of issues it...

Jan. 21, 2015 (South China Morning Post): The US-based Human Rights Watch is urging China to revise draft legislation aimed at combating terrorism, saying it was “little more than a licence to commit human rights abuses.” The draft law was made public for consultation last November and would establish a new counter-terrorism body that would have the power to designate organisations and their members as terrorists without...

Oct. 9, 2014 — The PRC Supreme People’s Court has issued a new judicial interpretation of regulations to provide standardized rules for the handling of trials involving online torts, including defamation and privacy. Xinhua story here Commentary here English and Chinese text of Supreme People’s Court Regulations Concerning Some Questions of Applicable Law in Handling Civil Dispute Cases involving the Use of...

8 August 2014 — In a closely watched case, a Shanghai court sentenced British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey to two-and-a-half years in jail and his American wife Yu Yingzeng to two years for “illegally obtaining private information” in violation of China’s personal data laws. The couple’s firm had been hired by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to investigate bribery allegations in China.  It...