Human Rights

The Chinese Government published a white paper on human rights in China in 2009, claiming that "the overall cause of human rights has been promoted in an all-round way." Much of the white paper discusses how China's growing economy was raising living standards and providing better education, and it admits that “there is still much room for improvement in its human rights conditions.”.

Diplomatic Protection

Hong Kong's Law Society advised the Manila bus tragedy victims and their families to seek mediation with the Philippine government over compensation, as it may take up to 10 years for a court to resolve their claims.

Territory - Diaoyu Islands

State Responsibility

The diplomatic showdown between Japan and China over the arrest of the captain of a Chinese trawler near Diaoyu Islands ended with Japan releasing the captain after over two weeks of detention. Chinese FM issued a statement demanding Japan's apology and compensation for its action which "seriously infringed upon China's territorial sovereignty and violated the human rights of Chinese citizens". Refusing China's demands, Japan somehow concluded that Beijing should pay damages for the collision between the Chinese trawler and two Japanese Coast Guard vessels, an incident clearly unattributable to the Chinese Government. Meanwhile, the Chinese government decided to regularly deploy its fisheries patrol boats near the Diaoyu Islands to protect the safety of China's fishermen.

Territory - Spratly Islands

Law of the Sea

Apparently losing memory of their often bloody battles against American intervention in South East Asia, ASEAN leaders embraced the US re-entry in the region as they issued a joint communique with US President Barack Obama that called for "freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea. A Chinese FM spokeswoman had earlier expressed opposition to the multilateralisation of the South China Sea disputes. To alleviate China's concerns, the joint communique dropped a draft statement that would oppose the "use or threat of force by any claimant attempting to enforce disputed claims in the South China Sea", although President Obama, at a time when his leadership in the US was in steady decline, somehow found the audacity to declare, "As president, I've made it clear that the US intends to play a leadership role in Asia." After China's FM spokeswoman repeated China's commitment to a "peaceful resolution of the South China Sea disputes", former State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan declared, "I believe, through concerted efforts of concerned countries, the South China Sea can, by all means, be a sea of peace, cooperation and friendship", a hollow slogan that used to be attached to the East China Sea, and look how that turned out between China and Japan!

State Responsibility - Countermeasure

Trade

Chinese customs officials reportedly halted shipments to Japan of rare earth elements, apparently in response to Japan's continued detention of a Chinese skipper. But a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman said that "China has not issued any measures intended to restrict rare earth exports to Japan". Publication of government regulations barring exports would allow Japan to file an immediate complaint with the WTO, but an administrative halt to exports is much harder to challenge.

Territory - Diaoyu Islands

State Responsibility - Countermeasure

Japan appeared to be determined to stay on its kamikaze course to provoke and confront China as a Japanese court approved its prosecutor's request to extend the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat, which collided earlier with two Japan Coast Guard vessels near the disputed Diaoyu Islands. A Chinese vice FM expressed strong indignation and protest against the decision, and China announced that it had suspended all relations between provincial and central government officials and their Japanese counterparts, including talks aimed at expanding aviation routes and cooperation on coal.

Law of the Sea - Continental Shelf

State Responsibility - Countermeasure

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada alleged that China had brought a machine resembling an excavator to the Chunxiao gas fields in the East China Sea. China said the machine was for repair work, and Japan apparently did not believe that China had begun drilling in the gas field. Meanwhile, a Chinese FM spokeswoman maintained that China has full sovereign rights over the Chunxiao oil and gas field, and that China had "sent marine surveillance ships to strengthen law enforcement in Chinese related waters to protect maritime rights and interests". Japan's PM Naoto Kan reportedly began considering specific countermeasures to be taken in the event China commences drilling at Chunxiao. Possible countermeasures include a plan for Japan to conduct its own test drilling in the sea near the Chinese offshore facility under development at the gas field,

Secession

Dispute Settlement

A Chinese diplomatic envoy to the UN said China noted the advisory opinion of ICJ on the Kosovo question, and that the opinion does not impede concerned countries solving problems via dialogues. He said that "China has always believed that the best way to the Kosovo issue should be the concerned parties seeking mutually acceptable solutions under the framework of related UN Security Council resolutions."

Territory - Diaoyu Islands

State Responsibility - Countermeasure

Two Japanese coastguard patrol boats collided with a Chinese fishing boat in waters off the Diaoyu islands, after which the fishing boat and the Chinese crew were detained by the Japanese patrol ships. China lodged "solemn representations" and a FM spokeswoman demanded that "Japanese patrol boats refrain from so-called law enforcement activities in waters off the Diaoyu islands and refrain from actions that would threaten the security of Chinese fishing boats and their crew". Later, as Japanese authorities arrested the Chinese captain on suspicion of "obstructing public duties" in connection with the collision, Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a "strong protest" and demanded Japan to immediately release the ship and crew members on board and guarantee their safety. A Chinese FM spokeswoman announced that China had sent armed fisheries administration ships to patrol in China's EEZ in waters near the Diaoyus to protect the safety and operations of Chinese fishermen. She said, "The Diaoyu islands are China's inseparable territory, and the Japanese side applying domestic law to Chinese fishing boats operating in this area is absurd, illegal and invalid, and China will never accept that."

Meanwhile, Japan appeared to treat the Diaoyu (Senkaku) Islands just as the Hokkaido Island (with one Japanese official saying there is "no territorial issue" in the East China Sea) as a Japanese court approved a 10-day detention of the Chinese captain. Chinese FM Yang Jiechi reiterated Beijing's demand that the captain and crew of the fishing boat be released "unconditionally", and "emphasised that the Chinese government's determination to safeguard the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands and the nation's people is firm and steadfast". China also decided to postpone the second round of negotiation with Japan on the East China Sea gas fields as part of its response to the seizure of a Chinese fishing boat. After China's State Councillor Dai Bingguo summoned the Japanese ambassador in the wee hours of a Sunday morning to issue a stern warning, Japan freed the crew of the Chinese fishing boat but continued to detain the captain.

Finance

As the US was set to take a harder stance on the Chinese government’s trade and currency policies, a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman said the accusation that China's RMB exchange rate is inappropriately determined because of a trade surplus to the US is unreasonable because, while China has a trade surplus to the US, China has a huge trade deficit to countries like Australia, Japan and South Korea.

Nationality

About 40% of applicants from southern China and Hong Kong for permanent residency in Canada were rejected in 2009 because of immigration fraud based on bogus marriages. A sham Canadian wedding costs upwards of C$50,000.

State Responsibility

Hong Kong

In the wake of the tour bus hijacking in Manila in which 8 Hongkongers were killed, Philippine President Benigno Aquino called a letter to him from Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang "insulting" and he had declined to respond to the letter but conveyed his displeasure to the Chinese Government. Tsang retorted by saying the letter merely set out issues the Hong Kong Government wanted addressed in the inquiry into the incident.

Taiwan

Recognition

The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland threw out Taiwan's lawsuit against the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for its reference to Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China" rather than "Republic of China, Taiwan" as preferred by Taiwan. ISO had used the name for Taiwan since 1998 when it published the ISO 3166 country codes list. The Swiss court accepted Taiwan's capacity to sue as a state, but said that the action undertaken by Taiwan was a "political claim for the existence of its independent democratic state to be recognised internationally," and therefore the case was irrelevant in civil courts.

Law of War - Chemical Weapons

Japan started the destruction of chemical weapons it left in China after WWII. The work will be carried out in Nanjing for one year. Over 50 Japanese nationals will participate.