October 19 - October 25
China
The Communist Party's Central Committee convened its fourth plenum of the 2022-2027 cycle to review proposals for a five-year development plan and make personnel changes.
The committee approved a blueprint for the 2026-2030 plan, prioritizing technological self-reliance in response to US export controls on semiconductors and advanced technology. The plan calls for accelerating green economic transformation and boosting domestic consumption through subsidies for consumer loans, childcare, and trade-in programs for electric vehicles and appliances. The legislature will approve the plan in March 2026.
The committee confirmed the expulsion of ten members and four alternates - a new record, according to the Asia Society’s Neil Thomas. One of those expelled was China's second-highest-ranking general, He Weidong (何卫东), the first sitting vice chairman of the Central Military Commission with a professional military background to be purged since the Cultural Revolution. The Defense Ministry announced days before the plenum that He and eight other senior military officials were suspected of corruption. General Zhang Shengmin (张升民), the head of the military’s Discipline Inspection Commission, was promoted to succeed He as vice chairman but He’s Politburo seat was left unfilled.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) reviewed and is expected to approve a draft amendment that would add AI provisions to China's 2016 Cybersecurity Law, creating a unified legal framework for AI governance. A spokesman for the NPC’s Legislative Affairs Commission said current AI regulations consist of scattered provisional measures issued by various ministries, and the amendment would establish requirements for ethical norms, security assessments, and oversight.
The Standing Committee will begin reviewing a draft Procuratorial Public Interest Litigation Law 《检察公益诉讼法》that will be the first comprehensive legislation spelling out the scope and procedures for public interest litigation by the nation’s procuratorates. Procuratorate-initiated public interest litigation first began in 2015 with environmental public-interest lawsuits but has expanded to cover a dozen other subject areas.
The office of the Work Safety Committee of the State Council issued new guidelines to prevent deadly fires at small catering venues. The Notice Regarding Resolutely Taking Precautions to Prevent Mass Casualty Fires at Small-Scale Food and Beverage Venues 《国务院安委会办公室关于坚决防范遏制小型餐饮场所群死群伤火灾事故的通知》urges local authorities to strengthen oversight, fix hazards, and enforce safety rules. The notice follows a series of fatal restaurant fires in cities Changchun, Yinchuan, Liaoyang, and other cities.
Hong Kong
A China-led intergovernmental mediation body opened for business in Hong Kong. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying (华春莹) said the International Organization for Mediation will supplement existing arbitration mechanisms and resolve interstate disputes, international investment disputes, and international commercial disputes. More than 30 nations, primarily from Asia and Africa, signed the convention establishing the organization in May.
The High Court again delayed the national security trial of the civil society organization that formerly organized annual vigils to remember the June 3-4, 1989 military attack on protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and three of its former leaders — Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Albert Ho — are accused of inciting subversion. The three have been kept in detention, Chow for more than four years.
The Education Bureau ordered St. Paul's School (Lam Tin) to investigate after a student at the all-girls school accused a retired teacher in his sixties of propositioning her for sex in a hotel room. The student wrote on social media that the teacher, who had taught her for four years, told her he wanted to talk but propositioned her when she arrived at the hotel. The teacher still works at the school as a substitute instructor.
Recent US and UK sanctions against a Cambodia-based real estate and casino operator, the Prince Group, had ripple effects in Hong Kong. Li Thet, executive director of Hong Kong-listed and Singapore-based FSM Holdings, resigned after US authorities linked him to the Prince Group. Li Thet, also known as Li Tian, who holds both Chinese and Cambodian citizenship, was among eighteen persons and 128 companies added to a US Treasury Department sanctions list on Oct. 14 as members of a “Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organization.” FSM Holdings’ businesses include precision sheet metal and online mobile games. The Prince Group is accused of operating forced-labor scam compounds in Cambodia.
The Tuen Mun Court sentenced Ho Huen (何煊), a 77-year-old retiree known online as “Mr Ho” (何伯), to a two-month suspended prison sentence for spraying insecticide on a woman who taunted him in public about his whirlwind marriage to a younger mainland Chinese wife. The court ordered Ho to pay HK$2,000 ($257) in compensation to the victim. Ho and his forty-four-year-old wife became internet celebrities after marrying within a month of meeting, but drew scrutiny for flaunting luxury items on television and allegedly violating public housing regulations.
Japan
The Diet elected Sanae Takaichi, a nationalist and security hawk, to be Japan’s fourth prime minister in five years and first female head of government. In her first major policy speech, she pledged to accelerate Japan’s military buildup. That message may appeal to US President Donald Trump, who visits Tokyo next week. It will fall to Takaichi to work out the details of her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba’s promise to invest $550 billion in the US as part of a tariff-reduction agreement.
Tokyo police searched Albatross Co., which operates Momuri, a service that negotiates with employers on behalf of workers who want to quit their jobs. The Metropolitan Police Department suspects the company illegally referred clients to lawyers for commissions in violation of a law prohibiting unlicensed entities from arranging legal negotiations for compensation. Founded in 2022, Albatross handled more than 40,000 cases, charged between ¥12,000 ($78) and ¥22,000 ($144) per client, and advertised connections to “experienced labor attorneys” on its website.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said the government plans to raise visa fees, which have remained unchanged since 1978, and increase the international departure tax from 1,000 yen (less than US$7) to levels closer to international standards. Officials said the new revenue could generate around 300 billion yen to help fund free high school tuition expansion.
Koreas
The South Korean Ministry of Data and Statistics updated its census system to allow same-sex couples to identify as “spouses” or “cohabiting partners” for the first time in the Population and Housing Census. The system previously flagged such entries as errors. South Korea does not legally recognize same-sex marriage or civil partnerships. Rainbow Action Korea, a coalition of forty-nine LGBTQ+ organizations, called the change “a historic decision.”
A Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for a former Marine commander accused of negligently causing the death of a young Marine in 2023 during a search mission for victims of heavy rain. A special counsel team accused the commander of pushing for the risky search operation without providing proper safety equipment, such as life vests. However, the court declined to approve arrest warrants sought against former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and four others alleged to have interfered in an earlier investigation of the death.
Police arrested forty-nine South Koreans following their repatriation from Cambodia and said they were suspected of involvement in telecom scam operations. They were among a total of sixty-four Koreans who were flown home from Cambodia on Oct. 18 following a visit to Phnom Penh by Second Vice-Foreign Minister Kim Jina. The Koreans were detained by Cambodian police in a series of raids on compounds from which armed criminal gangs carry out global telecom fraud schemes, often using captive foreign workers. South Korean police said they were trying to determine which among the returnees were victims and which, if any, were willing participants.
Taiwan
The Taiwan High Court sentenced retired Lieutenant General Kao An-kuo (高安國) to seven and a half years in prison for attempting to develop an espionage organization for China. Prosecutors said Kao and his live-in partner Liu Yi-chen (劉逸蓁) received US$92,200 and 294,700 Chinese yuan from Chinese officials to recruit military personnel for an armed organization that would attack government institutions during a Chinese invasion and produced anti-government videos. However, no one they contacted agreed to participate. Kao is the highest-ranking military officer ever convicted of espionage in Taiwan. The court sentenced four other defendants to prison terms ranging from two and a half years to six years.
The Supreme Court upheld a life sentence for Tu Cheng-che (杜承哲), who organized sixty-one kidnappings in which victims were lured to rented houses with false job offers, then detained, beaten, and drugged while their bank accounts were used to launder fraud proceeds. Three captives died, and police freed fifty-eight victims in raids. The court also finalized life sentences for two accomplices and a twenty-six-year term for a defendant who played a lesser role.
Legislators discussed proposals to amend the National Security Act (國家安全法) and Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法) to tighten national security. Amendments to the former law would require immediate action if certain categories of government employers were suspected of breaching national security. Amendments to the second law would increase penalties for disclosing classified information to persons from China, Hong Kong, Macau or to enemy states or their agents.
The Mainland Affairs Council critiqued China’s designation of Oct. 25 as Commemoration Day of Taiwan's Restoration as attempt to “belittle our country and fabricate the claim that Taiwan belongs to the PRC.” Oct. 25, 1945, is the date when representatives of the Republic of China - at that time, the official government of all of China, and today the government of Taiwan — accepted the surrender of Japanese forces on Taiwan on behalf of the Allied powers in World War II. Taiwan banned its officials from attending events in China to mark the date.
Environmental Minister Peng Chi-ming (彭啓明) announced that Taiwan will require environmental impact assessments for floating solar projects, making it the first country to implement such regulations. Peng was responding to online claims that workers used chemicals to clean solar panels at Wushantou Reservoir. Operators issued a statement denying the allegations.