November 30 - December 06
China
Ten government departments led by the Ministry of Public Security issued a policy document (《关于加强生态警务机制建设的意见》) establishing a joint ecological law-enforcement system to target environmental crimes including pollution, wildlife destruction, illegal fishing, and illegal mining. The document calls for establishing policing centers and field stations in high-risk areas and integrating ecological enforcement with routine public-security operations. The system is expected to be largely in place by 2027 and fully operational by 2035.
An intense debate erupted on social media over government plans to seal records of administrative offenses starting Jan. 1, 2026. The National People's Congress approved the move when it revised the Public Security Administration Punishments Law in June. Although there was no significant public backlash at that time, a recent official video that mentioned the change triggered heated discussion. Administrative punishments are handed down by police for non-criminal violations of law, including most traffic violations and drug use. Records of such offenses have until now served as lifelong barriers to higher education and employment. But members of the public are expressing concern about safety.
The Shanghai branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered platforms including RedNote and Bilibili to remove posts that it said spread alarmist information about the real estate market. Since mid-November, platforms have removed 40,000 posts and shut down 70,000 accounts and 1,200 live-streaming rooms for content using phrases such as: “the market is about to crash.” China's property sector has been in a serious slump since 2021.
The People's Bank of China held a coordination meeting with twelve other government agencies and reaffirmed its ban on virtual currency activities, warning that speculative trading has resurfaced. The central bank said stablecoins cannot meet customer identification and anti-money-laundering requirements and pose risks of being used for illegal fundraising and unauthorized cross-border fund transfers.
The People's Liberation Army issued new disciplinary rules that prohibit “erroneous political remarks," noncompliance with Central Military Commission orders, and “fake combat capabilities." The new rules take effect Jan. 1, 2026.
A Beijing court ruled that a marriage between a gay man and his boyfriend's sister was legally valid, granting the woman inheritance rights after the man died in a traffic accident. Xu Tian married Xue Li in December 2024 to increase his family's demolition compensation payout, but died two months later when his bicycle collided with a car. Xu's mother filed an appeal, arguing the marriage should be invalidated because it was arranged solely to obtain government benefits.
The Wuhan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Li Gang, a former senior official at China's top anti-corruption watchdog, to fifteen years in prison for accepting bribes worth over 102 million yuan ($14.44 million). The court found that Li used his positions in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces from 1998 to June 2024, including as deputy governor of Sichuan, to facilitate business deals, project contracts, land transfers, and job promotions in exchange for bribes. The court also fined Li 6 million yuan and ordered confiscation of his illegal gains.
Hong Kong
Chief Executive John Lee ordered that an independent committee led by a judge be created to investigate the cause of the Nov. 26 fire that killed at least 159 persons in seven residential high-rises and left more than 2,000 homeless. Authorities also arrested more persons suspected of illegal actions that led to the fire and high casualties, including six who were accused of falsely telling fire authorities that fire alarms would not be deactivated during maintenance work at the buildings. (The alarms were turned off.) The government also worked strenuously to control the public narrative about the fire.
China’s Office for Safeguarding National Security summoned foreign journalists in Hong Kong and alleged that some had spread false information and smeared the government in their reporting on the fire and on Legislative Council elections scheduled for Dec. 7.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang sent a letter to the Wall Street Journal criticizing an editorial titled “No Fire Critics Allowed in Hong Kong.” Tang said it was an “unwarranted attempt to undermine Hong Kong.”
The editorial referred to a civil society press conference that was cancelled at the last minute when one of the speakers was called to meet with the police national security department. The speakers, former members of the pro-democracy Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood, had planned to speak about suspected causes of the fire and support for the survivors.
Police have arrested at least four persons on suspicion of sedition, including a 26-year-old YouTuber surnamed Chan accused of calling the fire victims carriers of “deep sins” and describing the blaze as “karma.”
Police also arrested a 27-year-old mainland Chinese woman for allegedly impersonating a social welfare group to solicit donations for fire victims through a fake website.
Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn ordered scaffold netting removed from more than 200 premises after investigators discovered forged safety certificates. A Shandong-based manufacturer allegedly forged the certificates, and one of two labs purportedly issuing safety reports denied doing so while the other could not be contacted. The Buildings Department plans to issue new requirements for testing scaffolding nets before use. The buildings that burned had been swathed in safety netting and other flammable materials.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) arrested four men accused of making online posts or comments to incite others to boycott or cast invalid ballots in the Dec. 7 polls for the Legislative Council (LegCo). Authorities previously said that 29 people had been arrested for alleged attempts to sabotage the election, mostly by damaging election posters. This will be the second LegCo election since Hong Kong revamped its electoral system in 2021 to ensure only “patriots” can run for office.
Japan
An expert panel convened by Japan's health and science ministries and the Children and Families Agency agreed that the government should penalize implanting gene-edited human embryos into humans or animals to produce babies. Current guidelines prohibit the practice but carry no penalties. The government plans to submit a bill to the Diet in 2026. It is considering penalties of up to ten years' imprisonment or a fine of up to 10 million yen ($64,000).
The House of Councillors unanimously approved revising the anti-stalking and anti-domestic violence law to prohibit using Bluetooth tags to track a person's location without consent. A 2021 law banned GPS tracking devices but not Bluetooth tags, which stalkers increasingly used for surveillance. The revised law also allows police to issue warnings to suspected stalkers without a request from the victim and to demand third parties stop providing victims' information to suspects.
Labor Minister Kenichiro Ueno ordered a nationwide investigation of all 544 Hello Work public employment service centers after an employee in one of its Tokyo offices allegedly created fake job seeker identities to avoid falling below the 95 percent monthly placement target that triggers bureau guidance.
The government plans to increase the residency requirement for foreigners to attain Japanese citizenship to ten years from the current five, according to the Mainichi newspaper. The paper quoted sources close to the government and ruling party as saying the plan was presented at a Liberal Democratic Party meeting.
Koreas
The South Korean National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee voted to establish special tribunals to adjudicate insurrection cases from former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law declaration. The committee-approved bill, which awaits a vote by the full assembly, would create at least two tribunals each for first and appellate trials. The vote was met with strong opposition from judges and lawyers.
The heads of courts convened for six hours and issued a joint statement saying that the proposed tribunals would be unconstitutional and would undermine judicial independence. Nine former presidents of the Korea Bar Association and four former presidents of the Korea Women Lawyers Association also issued a joint statement urging the ruling party to scrap the bill.
The Defense Ministry began investigating the military’s psychological operations unit over allegations that it distributed anti-North Korea leaflets over the border without notifying higher command between October 2023 and early December 2024. Meanwhile, a trial began for former President Yoon Suk Yeol and several ex-defense officials accused of ordering military drones to be flown into North Korean airspace in 2024 to provoke a hostile response that could justify declaring emergency martial law. Yoon is already being tried separately on insurrection, obstruction, and other charges.
E-commerce giant Coupang confirmed that a former employee stole personal information from 33.7 million customer accounts (nearly all its users) starting in June, including names, phone numbers, and delivery addresses but not payment information. The suspect, a Chinese national, has left South Korea. President Lee Jae-myung instructed government ministries to increase penalties for such leaks and allow victims to seek punitive damages. Multiple law firms filed class-action lawsuits on behalf of victims.
The Seoul Central District Court denied an arrest warrant for People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Choo Kyung-ho over allegations he obstructed party lawmakers from voting to lift former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law decree on Dec. 3, 2024. The court said there was room for dispute regarding the facts and legal principles and cited insufficient grounds for arrest such as flight risk or evidence destruction. Choo allegedly changed the party meeting's venue at Yoon's request, so only eighteen of 108 PPP lawmakers voted.
Special counsel prosecutors sought a 15-year prison sentence and a $1.36 million fine for Kim Keon Hee, wife of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, for alleged stock price manipulation, bribery, and campaign finance violations. Prosecutors said Kim conspired to manipulate Deutsch Motors' share price between 2010 and 2012, received free polling services before the 2022 presidential election, and accepted luxury gifts from the Unification Church in exchange for business favors.
South Korea's National Assembly revised the Act on Electronic Monitoring to enable stalking victims to see the real-time location of their stalker if the stalker gets too close. The Ministry of Justice said the current system only notifies victims via text messages indicating distance, but the new system will provide exact location tracking so the victim can quickly move to safety.
Eight South Korean government agencies established the country's first joint drug investigation headquarters in late November to combat illegal drug crimes. The city of Seoul separately launched an anonymous drug crime reporting system on KakaoTalk that delivers tips directly to investigators and offers treatment support for adolescents. Authorities cited a sharp rise in drug cases involving young offenders.
Taiwan
The Interior Ministry ordered internet service providers to block RedNote (Xiaohongshu), a Chinese social media app with over three million Taiwanese users, for one year after the platform's operator failed to respond to government compliance requests. The app was linked to 950 fraud cases last year and 756 so far this year, including fake online shopping platforms and fake investment schemes. It also failed to meet Taiwan's cybersecurity standards. Shanghai-based Xingyin Information Technology Co. ignored an October 14 letter from the government calling for corrective action.
The Supreme Court upheld prison sentences of ten to eighteen months for three former Military Intelligence Bureau officers convicted of working for Chinese intelligence. Retired Colonels Chang Chao-jan and Chou Tien-tzu and former Major General Yueh Chih-chung were found guilty under the National Security Act of being recruited by Chinese officials beginning in 2008 and attempting to recruit others for rewards. The court rejected their appeals without disclosing what intelligence they provided or how much they received.
The Supreme Court also confirmed the prison sentences of four other former servicemen convicted of passing information to Chinese intelligence in exchange for payments totaling NT$1.84 million (US$58,865). Three were assigned to the military police battalion that guards the Presidential Office, while one served in the Defense Ministry’s Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command. Their sentences ranged from seventy to eighty-four months.
Taiwan prosecutors indicted Tokyo Electron Taiwan Ltd. for failing to adequately supervise a former employee accused of stealing TSMC's 2-nanometer technology. It is the first time a legal entity has been charged under the National Security Act over alleged theft of National Core Key Technology. Prosecutors charged one former and two current Tokyo Electron engineers in August.
The legislature passed amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act that for the first time define workplace bullying and require employers to take prevention measures. Workplaces with more than thirty employees must publish prevention guidelines, while those with more than ten must provide a publicly accessible reporting channel. Employers who engage in bullying face fines, while failure to support complainants or investigate also carries penalties.
Gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei (祁家威) filed a complaint with the Taipei District Prosecutors Office accusing Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) of dereliction of duty for maintaining a policy that requires transgender people to undergo surgery before officially changing their legal gender. Courts in Taiwan have already ruled the policy to be unconstitutional. Chi said Taiwan is the only jurisdiction to both recognize same-sex marriage and allow gender marker changes and also enforce a surgery requirement.
The Shilin District Court gave a three-month suspended sentence to a Taipei sanitation worker after he took a discarded rice cooker valued at NT$32.56 (about US$1) that he collected for recycling in the course of his work, and gave it to an elderly woman. Prosecutors charged that the worker had embezzled private property in the course of his duties. The Ministry of Justice said it submitted proposed amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act to the Executive Yuan that would allow courts to reduce or waive penalties for such low-value cases.