March 01 - March 07

China’s National People’s Congress begins its annual plenary session by hearing a government work report that acknowledges slowed economic growth and focuses on rolling out AI and other advanced technologies; the lawyer for Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai says he will not appeal his national security conviction or twenty-year prison sentence; the Tokyo High Court approves disbanding the Unification Church in Japan for systematically coercing its followers to donate money; South Korea announces immigration reforms designed to expand access for skilled foreign workers as it grapples with a shrinking labor force; Taiwan’s Premier Cho Jung-tai again refuses to countersign bills approved by the opposition-controlled legislature, extending a constitutionally dubious practice.

February 22 - February 28

China joins in calls for the US to stop bombing Iran and return to negotiations; the Hong Kong Court of Appeal overturns former publisher Jimmy Lai’s lease fraud conviction as he begins a twenty-year sentence for national security offenses; Japan’s Fair Trade Commission raids the offices of Microsoft Japan on suspicion of anti-competitive conduct; South Korea’s legislature approves controversial legislation that criminalizes intentional misapplication of law by judges and prosecutors and allows litigants to appeal finalized Supreme Court rulings to the Constitutional Court; Taiwan’s intelligence agency completes a decades-long declassification process that raises a curtain on surveillance of political opposition during the martial law era.

February 15 - February 21

China’s Communist Party is denying promotions or even dismissing some officials because they have adult children living overseas; Hong Kong police announce plans to add facial recognition capabilities to their expanding network of CCTV cameras; Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takichi warns of Chinese “coercion” and pledges to strengthen the country’s defenses; a South Korean court sentences former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison for insurrection; the leaders of Taiwan’s legislature pledge to prioritize review of a controversial special defense budget after stalling action for weeks.

February 8 - February 14

China's State Council issues a white paper asserting Beijing has “fundamental responsibility” for national security in Hong Kong; Hong Kong’s High Court sentences Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai to twenty years in prison for writing commentary critical of the government and supporting foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials; Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner win a supermajority in snap elections for the lower house of parliament, reviving talk of revising the “peace constitution”; a South Korean court sentences former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min to seven years in prison for aiding ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol in executing his 2024 martial law decree; Taiwan and the US sign a trade deal capping US tariffs on Taiwanese goods at 15 percent and allowing previously banned US beef and pork into Taiwan.

February 1 - February 7

Chinese President Xi Jinping warns US President Donald Trump to handle arms sales to Taiwan prudently; free-market Hong Kong for the first time says it will draft a five-year economic plan in sync with mainland China; an influential panel of legal experts in Japan votes to preserve prosecutorial powers that block retrials in suspected wrongful conviction cases; five justices of Taiwan’s Constitutional Court issue their third substantive decision since declaring themselves not bound by an unattainably high 2025 quorum requirement.

January 25 - January 31

China says it will take “all necessary measures” to safeguard the rights of Chinese companies after Panama's Supreme Court voids a Hong Kong company’s contracts to operate container ports on the Panama Canal; Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body arrests thirty-three people on charges of defrauding government technology grant programs; Japanese Cabinet ministers approve policies to make it harder for foreigners to become Japanese citizens; a South Korean court convicts the former first lady of accepting bribes and sentences her to twenty months in prison; Taiwan’s Kuomintang Party prepares to resume party-to-party dialogue with China’s Communist Party.

January 18- January 24

China purges two more senior generals, including its top-ranked uniformed officer; a Hong Kong court begins the long-awaited trial of three democracy activists who led annual Tiananmen vigils; a Japanese court sentences the killer of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to life in prison; a South Korean court convicts former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo of aiding an insurrection and sentences him to twenty-three years in prison; Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan blocks the eighth attempt to review President Lai Ching-te’s US$39.6 billion special defense budget.

January 11- January 17

China’s Commerce Ministry says stronger export controls and supply chain security are top priorities for 2026; Hong Kong’s High Court hears arguments about how severe a sentence to give former Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai; the prime ministers of Japan and South Korea - which have had rocky relations in recent years - agree to increase cooperation in economic security, AI, defense, crime fighting, and other areas; a South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison at the conclusion of the first of a suite of criminal trials stemming from his 2024 declaration of martial law; Taiwan’s opposition-dominated legislature opens public hearings on impeaching President Lai Ching-te as the legislature and executive remain locked in a standoff over the allocation of government funds.

December 14 - December 20

Chinese-controlled TikTok says it has signed agreements with three new investors to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States; a Hong Kong court convicts the former publisher of Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and conspiring to print seditious articles; about 450 plaintiffs sue Japan's central government for what they called its constitutionally insufficient response to climate change; a South Korean special counsel says former President Yoon Suk-yeol began preparing to impose martial law as early as October 2023; five of Taiwan’s Constitutional Court justices declare unconstitutional amendments to the court’s own procedural rules that have paralyzed it for nearly a year.

December 07 - December 13

China’s Supreme People’s Court approves the execution of another senior official from one of the country’s top asset management companies; the Hong Kong government creates an independent committee to investigate the Nov. 26 high-rise fire that killed at least 160 persons and left more than 4,000 homeless; the Japan Federation of Bar Associations reports positive results from an initiative to allow suspects who are being questioned by police to periodically step out of the interrogation room to consult with a lawyer; South Korea’s Supreme Court finalizes a lower court order that requires Nippon Steel Corp. to pay 100 million won ($71,000) in compensation to the family of a colonial-era forced laborer; Taiwan’s High Court rejects an appeal by former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je to broadcast live his upcoming corruption trial.

November 30 - December 6

China announces plans for an ambitious nationwide system to better enforce environmental protection laws; the Hong Kong government works to control the public narrative about a deadly fire that killed at least 159 persons in seven residential high-rises; a Japanese expert panel supports creating criminal penalties for implanting gene-edited human embryos into humans or animals to produce babies; South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party sets off a firestorm by proposing to create special tribunals to adjudicate insurrection cases from former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law declaration; Taiwan’s Interior Ministry orders internet service providers to block the Chinese social media app RedNote (Xiaohongshu) for one year due to its poor cybersecurity and rampant fraud.

November 16 - November 22

China escalates its war of words with Japan over Japan’s interest in a Chinese attack on Taiwan; senior Chinese judicial advisors propose sealing the criminal records of persons convicted of minor offenses; Hong Kong authorities respond harshly to calls for voters to boycott the Dec. 7 Legislative Council elections; Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi agrees to review the possibility of punishing not only prostitutes but their customers; South Korea’s government says it will establish task forces at government agencies to investigate public officials' involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law attempt; Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses regret after the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership again fails to address Taiwan’s application for membership.

November 9 - November 15

China reins in offshore debt by regional-level state-owned enterprises; Hong Kong suspends former lawmaker and democracy activist Albert Ho from practicing as a notary public; Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi declines to retract her comment that a Chinese use of force against Taiwan “could constitute a survival-threatening situation” for Japan; a real estate development scandal linked to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung triggers the first major political crisis of his five-month-old administration; Taiwan’s Cabinet seeks to raise the penalties for fraud crimes.

November 2 - November 8

The Chinese government reportedly takes steps to rein in police abuses; Hong Kong police freeze assets linked to the Cambodia-based Prince Group as part of a multi-nation probe of its alleged transnational crimes; Japan’s government plans further revisions to its foreign investment screening law; South Korean universities begin rejecting applicants with records of school violence; Taiwan’s government continues to review legislation with an eye to strengthening legal protections against Chinese disinformation, infiltration, and security threats.

October 26 - November 1

A Chinese woman whose husband tried to kill her by pushing her off a cliff finally wins a divorce in a high-profile case; the Hong Kong police force expands its real-time monitoring CCTV surveillance system by integrating cameras managed by other departments; a Japanese court rules that the July election for the upper chamber of parliament was held in a “state of unconstitutionality” due to disparities in the value of votes in different districts; South Korea's Constitutional Court upholds a law that bans violators of the election law from voting for up to ten years; Taiwan trade negotiators say that technical consultations with the US have been largely finalized.

October 19 - October 25

China’s Communist Party Central Committee approves the outline of a new five-year economic and social development plan; the China-led International Organization for Mediation opens for business in Hong Kong; Japan’s Diet elects Sanae Takaichi, a firebrand nationalist and security hawk, to be Japan’s fourth prime minister in five years and first female head of government; the South Korean government is allowing same-sex couples to identify themselves as “spouses” or “cohabiting partners” in the next census; Taiwan’s High Court sentences a retired lieutenant general to prison for attempting to develop an espionage operation for China.