Access to Justice (司法公正)

刑案律师辩护率大增部分地区达100% (Big increases in rate of defense by criminal lawyers, doubling in some regions)
Legal Daily, Dec 21, 2017
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index_article/content/2017-12/21/content_7427226.htm?node=5955

著名民运人士杨天水先生遭中共当局强制“海葬” 家人遭巨大压力被禁言(CPC authorities force sea burial of Yang Tianshui (Yang Tongyan), veteran democracy activist who died last month, and pressure family to remain silent)
Weiquanwang, December 20, 2017
http://wqw2010.blogspot.hk/2017/12/blog-post_38.html

Gay hate crime? The Nest accused of assault on lesbian couple
Shanghaiist, December 20, 2017
http://shanghaiist.com/2017/12/20/nest_assault.php

反强拆 广西北海两村民被批捕(Two villagers in Beihai, Guangxi Province, detained for opposing forced demolition)
Radio Free Asia, December 20, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/yf1-12202017103708.html

天津首起侮辱国旗案宣判 (Man is sentenced to 2 years in Tianjin’s first case of dishonoring national flag)
Legal Daily, Dec 20, 2017
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index_article/content/2017-12/20/content_7425861.htm

20个省份成立法官检察官惩戒委(20 provinces set up Judge and Prosecutor Disciplinary Sanction Commission)
Legal Daily, Dec 20, 2017
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index_article/content/2017-12/19/content_7424846.htm?node=5955

最高检公安部联合发文规范经济犯罪案件办理：防止侦查权滥用 (Supreme People’s Court and Ministry of Public Security jointly issue regulation on handling economic crimes to prevent abuse of investigative power)
The Paper, Dec 19, 2017
http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1912932

《法治政府建设实施纲要》尚未落实到位 近半数未如期公布法治政府建设年报 (Implementation Outline for Building Government of Rule of Law falls short in practice, as half of government units miss deadline for publishing annual reports)
Legal Daily, Dec 18, 2017
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index_article/content/2017-12/18/content_7423562.htm?node=5955

最高法：人格权有望单独成编入民法典，保护互联网时代隐私权 (Supreme People’s Court: “Right to character” to be written into civil code to protect privacy right in Internet era)
The Paper, Dec 18, 2017
http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1910358

Access to Information (信息公开)

China's ruling communist party bans Christmas, calling it “spiritual opium”
斥圣诞节“精神鸦片” 湖南衡阳官方禁党员干部过圣诞
Radio Free Asia, December 20, 2017
EN: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/xmas-12202017113540.html
CH: http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/ql2-12202017103645.html

Citizen Participation (公民参与)

上海维权公民今年第22次上街举牌要求批准《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》和要求官员公开财产(For the 22nd time this year, Shanghai rights defenders urge ICCPR ratification for asset transparency of government officials)
Weiquanwang, December 20, 2017
http://wqw2010.blogspot.hk/2017/12/22.html

Government Accountability (政府问责)

被指性侵女学生 南昌大学一副院长被免职(Associate Deans of Nanchang University dismissed over alleged sexual assault of female students)
Beijing News, December 21, 2017
http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2017/12/21/469477.html

China shapes economic blueprint around “Xi Jinping Thought”
The Wall Street Journal, December 20, 2017
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-shapes-economic-blueprint-around-xi-jinping-thought-1513786561

Related:
習近平新時代經濟思想出爐 中央經濟工作會議閉幕 首關注教育醫療電騙(Xi’s economic thought unveiled, raise concerns about education, health and electronic frauds)
Mingpao, December 21, 2017
https://news.mingpao.com/pns/dailynews/web_tc/article/20171221/s00013/1513793308629

近5年妥善处理群众信访195万余件 (Supreme People’s Procuratorate properly handled 1.95 million petitions in past five years)
Legal Daily, Dec 20, 2017
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/index_article/content/2017-12/20/content_7425989.htm?node=5955

ICTs and Human Rights (信息技术与人权)

中国科技巨擘竞逐人工智能 (Chinese technology giants compete to develop AI)
Financial Times, December 21, 2017
https://www.ftchinese.com/story/001075569

国产APP软件私闯网民禁地 关闭通讯录仍如无掩鸡笼(Chinese apps access chat records without user authorization)
Radio Free Asia, December 20, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/meiti/ql1-12202017103517.html

男子私自搭建VPN服务器非法获利50余万元被判刑 (Man is sentenced to 5 years and fined RMB 500,000 for building VPN)
JCRB.Com, Dec 20, 2017
http://news.jcrb.com/jszx/201712/t20171220_1827177.html

腾讯发布“谣言治理年度报告”：拦截谣言5亿次 (Tencent intercepted rumors over 500 million times, its “Annual Report of Managing Rumors” says)
The Paper, Dec 20, 2017
http://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1914787

中宣部等印发通知要求进一步加强社会主义核心价值观网上传播(Central Propaganda Department issues notice requiring stepped-up dissemination of socialist core values online)
Xinhua, Dec 17, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-12/17/c_1122123232.htm

National Security & Counterterrorism (国家安全和反恐)

China dangles huge payouts for tips on “terrorists” in largely Uyghur Hotan Prefecture
Radio Free Asia, December 20, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/tips-12202017172516.html

China outcry as Taiwan arrests pro-Beijing party members accused of spying
The Telegraph, December 20, 2017
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/20/china-outcry-taiwan-arrests-pro-beijing-party-members-accused/

Hong Kong (香港)

曾鈺成：政府應坦白承認　基本法沒「一地兩檢」空間(Jasper Tsang, former chairperson of LegCo and DAB, says HKSAR government should admit co-location arrangement has no ground in Basic Law)
Mingpao, December 21, 2017
https://news.mingpao.com/ins/instantnews/web_tc/article/20171221/s00001/1513823267358

林鄭月娥：未來12個月很難開展23條立法工作(Carrie Lam says it will be difficult to start work on Article 23 legislation within next year)
Radio Television Hong Kong, December 21, 2017
http://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1371173-20171221.htm

Related:
With legislative changes, some Hong Kong pro-democracy activists fear "Article 23 is coming to town"
Global Voice, December 20, 2017
https://globalvoices.org/2017/12/20/with-legislative-changes-some-hong-kong-pro-democracy-activists-fear-article-23-is-coming-to-town/

Hong Kong government makes 123 data requests to Facebook in first half of 2017
Hong Kong Free Press, December 21, 2017
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/21/hong-kong-government-makes-123-data-requests-facebook-first-half-2017/

Outgoing HKU head calls visit to Occupy protesters the "defining moment" of his term
South China Morning Post, December 21, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2125160/outgoing-hku-head-calls-visit-occupy-protesters-defining

Rimsky Yuen (Secretary of Justice) tenders resignation, reports say
The Standard, December 21, 2017
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news.php?id=100949&sid=4

Ex-Hong Kong minister Patrick Ho indicted in US over US$2.9 million in bribes to African officials
South China Morning Post, December 20, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2125014/ex-hong-kong-minister-patrick-ho-indicted-us-over-us29

Commentary (评论)

Xi's China rising, Trump's America waning
Aljazeera, December 21, 2017
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/xi-china-rising-trump-america-waning-171220111758013.html

新聞工作者眼中的網絡科技安全問題(Digital security problems seen from journalists’ perspective)
Mingpao, December 21, 2017
https://news.mingpao.com/ins/instantnews/web_tc/article/20171221/s00022/1513772457473

解决社会问题的死循环需要“比慢”(Breaking the vicious cycle of China’s complex social problems requires “slow” systematic thinking)
Financial Times, December 21, 2017
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001075576

Hong Kong must do more on data protection
South China Morning Post, December 21, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2125148/hong-kong-must-do-more-data-protection

Five things to know about China’s national carbon market
China Dialogue, December 19, 2017
https://www.chinadialogue.net/blog/10303-Five-things-to-know-about-China-s-national-carbon-market/en

Access to Justice (司法公正)

独立学者、作家黎学文在广州火车站遭警方抓捕 疑因海祭刘晓波案(Li Xuewen, independent scholar and writer, is arrested in Guangzhou, possibly related to his act to commemorate Liu Xiaobo)
Weiquanwang, December 19, 2017
http://wqw2010.blogspot.hk/2017/12/blog-post_36.html

无国界记者：中国是全世界记者的最大监狱(Reporters Without Borders says China locked the most journalists away in the world)
Voice of America, December 20, 2017
https://www.voachinese.com/a/news-china-reporters-without-frontiers-20171219/4170211.html

Related:
China is "the world’s biggest prison for journalists", says media watchdog Reporters Without Borders
Hong Kong Free Press, December 20, 2017
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/20/china-worlds-biggest-prison-journalists-says-media-watchdog-reporters-without-borders/

Access to Information (信息公开)

新疆高调公布13人 “涉暴恐”
China detains five more ethnic Kazakhs over "ethnic hatred", "terrorist" content
Radio Free Asia, December 19, 2017
EN: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/kazakhs-12192017113550.html
CH: http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/ql2-12192017105139.html

Citizen Participation (公民参与)

河北沧州“煤改气”爆炸赔偿无果 民众市政府抗议 (Protest against Cangzhou government in Hebei, demanding remedies for natural gases explosion)
Radio Free Asia, December 19, 2017
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/yf2-12192017105213.html

China public death sentences over drugs alarm web users
British Broadcasting Company, December 18, 2017
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-42403250

Government Accountability (政府问责)

Top polluter China unveils nationwide carbon market to reduce emissions
Agence France-Presse, December 20, 2017
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/20/top-polluter-china-unveils-nationwide-carbon-market-reduce-emissions/

ICTs and Human Rights (信息技术与人权)

Internet giants told: Accept cyber curbs to be welcome in China
Reuters, December 18, 2017
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-cyber/internet-giants-told-accept-cyber-curbs-to-be-welcome-in-china-idUSKBN1EC1MQ

National Security & Counterterrorism (国家安全和反恐)

China’s flagship TV network has not registered as a foreign agent in US
The Washington Post, December 20, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2125051/chinas-flagship-tv-network-has-not-registered-foreign

Twelve days in Xinjiang: How China’s surveillance state overwhelms daily life
The Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2017
https://www.wsj.com/articles/twelve-days-in-xinjiang-how-chinas-surveillance-state-overwhelms-daily-life-1513700355

Hong Kong (香港)

新人多支持待適當時機立23條 (Most newly elected Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress say they support legislation of Article 23 in due course)
Ming Pao, December 20, 2017
https://news.mingpao.com/pns/dailynews/web_tc/article/20171220/s00002/1513707129508

Outgoing CUHK head: students’ harsh criticism of his political views “regrettable”
Hong Kong Free Press, December 20, 2017
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/20/outgoing-cuhk-head-students-harsh-criticism-political-views-regrettable/

Hong Kong football association fined for Chinese anthem booing
Channel New Asia, December 20, 2017
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/hong-kong-football-association-fined-for-chinese-anthem-booing-9513044/

Investigative newswire FactWire makes urgent request for HK$3.8m from readers
Hong Kong Free Press, December 19, 2017
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/19/investigative-newswire-factwire-makes-urgent-request-hk3-8m-readers/

Carrie Lam praises school that kicked students out of graduation ceremony for “disrespecting” national anthem
Hong Kong Free Press, December 19, 2017
https://www.hongkongfp.com/2017/12/19/carrie-lam-praises-school-kicked-students-graduation-ceremony-disrespecting-national-anthem/

Commentary (评论)

Spare me the crocodile tears, Hong Kong’s treatment of domestic workers is modern slavery
South China Morning Post, December 20, 2017
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2124974/spare-me-crocodile-tears-hong-kongs-treatment-domestic-workers-modern

How companies can win against China’s “carrots and sticks”
Financial Times, December 20, 2017
https://www.ft.com/content/b6bb55c4-e4b4-11e7-97e2-916d4fbac0da

Was Moon Jae-in’s China Trip Successful?
The Diplomat, December 19, 2017
https://thediplomat.com/2017/12/was-moon-jae-ins-china-trip-successful/