Japan MPs push for Hong Kong sanctions bill in wake of national security law
- The proposed bill enjoys cross-party support and is similar in scope to one introduced by the United States Congress in November
- Questions have been raised about Japan’s ability to enforce sanctions, however, amid suggestions any resulting law would largely be symbolic
The national security law could turn Hong Kong into Asia’s Monaco
“I am a lawyer and I have been watching what has been going on in Hong Kong very carefully and I can say that what I see there is very worrying,” said Shiori Yamao, who jointly leads the new group and is a member of the opposition Democratic Party for the People, a centre-right party that is currently the second-largest in the Diet.
“I’m very optimistic that the bill that we hope to propose can eventually become law,” she told This Week In Asia . “And that is important because this is taking place right next to Japan.”
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What you should know about China's new national security law for Hong Kong
The bill proposes giving Diet members the right to demand the executive branch open an investigation into cases in which human rights abuses are suspected. Should the investigation confirm that abuses have taken place, then the Japanese government will have the authority under the bill to sanction individuals or organisations involved by freezing their assets held in Japan, refusing entry into the country or ordering that they be deported.
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Yamao, who sent a message of support to a July 12 march that was held in Tokyo protesting China’s treatment of Uygur Muslims and Hong Kong, said in an interview with Japan Business Press that she had been moved to form the group discussing the sanctions bill after seeing the “truly shocking” footage of police breaking up last year’s protests in a city “where there had been freedom, democracy and the rule of law, just like in Japan”.
She said she was pleased at the cross-party support the group had received from both sides of the political spectrum – ranging from representatives of the Japan Communist Party, which holds 25 seats across both chambers of the 710-seat Diet, to members of the ruling LDP’s conservative wing.
No members of Komeito, the LDP’s smaller coalition partner and traditionally a pro-China party, have yet joined Yamao’s group. To become law in Japan, a bill needs the support of the majority of both houses.
In addition to the sanctions bill, Yamao called on Tokyo to implement a “lifeboat policy” allowing Hongkongers already in Japan to remain there if they would otherwise face persecution; introduce measures to support those who subsequently decide to flee to Japan; and refuse to cooperate with investigations initiated under the new national security law.
Japan, Hong Kong and the mainland currently have an agreement to provide mutual assistance in criminal cases affecting the three jurisdictions.
The first meeting of Yamao’s group was attended by a number of Hongkongers living in Japan who had been calling for the creation of legislation to prevent human rights abuses.
Prominent Hong Kong activist Nathan Law Kwun-chung, currently in self-imposed exile in Britain, also addressed the group in a video message, saying he was encouraged by its efforts.
My gut feeling is that Japan may not have the legal, technical, regulatory or bureaucratic pieces in place... to make this effective
According to Robert Dujarric, joint director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, the proposed sanctions bill has a high likelihood of being passed into law in Japan given the significant amount of cross-party support it has already attracted. But such a move, he said, would mostly be symbolic.
“If the US is after you, they can make life very unpleasant because they have the resources to do that,” he said. “But my gut feeling is that Japan may not have the legal, technical, regulatory or bureaucratic pieces in place, as well as the intelligence-gathering capability that would be required to make this effective.”
“The law can be passed easily enough, the question is about implementation,” Dujarric added.
Yamao, however, described the proposed bill as a potential “turning point in Japanese diplomacy”.
“Now that Western liberal democracies are changing their perspectives on China, I think it is important that we also ask the same questions,” she said, adding that Tokyo playing a greater diplomatic role in regional issues “will also serve Japan’s national interests”.
“On the issue of Hong Kong, Japan has to ask how it can take concrete moves to provide international solidarity and support democratic groups,” she said.
