December 14 - December 20
China
The Ministry of Commerce announced it will impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 4.9 percent to 19.8 percent on European Union pork imports for five years. The rates on are lower than temporary levies of 15.6 to 62.4 percent that China imposed in September. China’s move is considered retaliation for EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court sentenced twenty-seven people to prison for illegally exporting the critical mineral antimony, with the ringleader receiving twelve years. The group smuggled more than 166 tons of the mineral, which China restricts for export for national security reasons due to its use in ammunition and infrared missiles.
The Intermediate People's Court of Nanning sentenced Qi Tongsheng, former chairman of the Ningxia People's Political Consultative Conference, to death with a two-year reprieve for receiving bribes. From 2004 to 2021, as Qi rose through the ranks of Ningxia government, he used his positions to facilitate mining permits, project approvals, and construction contracts in exchange for more than 111 million yuan ($15.3 million). The court said it granted him leniency because Qi confessed, showed remorse, and returned most of the stolen funds.
The State Administration for Market Regulation warned that internet platforms requiring merchants on their site to offer the “lowest price across the internet” may face antitrust action. At a press conference to explain new draft Antitrust Compliance Guidelines for Internet Platforms, the agency said that barring merchants from selling their products cheaper on other platforms is one of eight potential antitrust violations explained in the guidelines.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew told employees that the company and its Chinese owner ByteDance signed joint venture agreements with three new investors to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States. Under the terms of a 2024 US law, Chinese ownership of TikTok’s US operations cannot exceed 20 percent. Each of the new investors - Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX - will hold 15 percent. Affiliates of existing ByteDance investors will own 30.1 percent. The new US entity will control American user data. The deal is scheduled to close on Jan. 22, 2026.
Hong Kong
The High Court convicted the former publisher of Apple Daily, Jimmy Lai, of two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to print seditious articles. It held that he used Apple Daily to push for foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and China. The court also convicted Lai's three companies of two collusion counts. Lai, 78, already has been detained for more than 1,800 days and faces between ten years and life in prison. A mitigation hearing is scheduled for January 12, 2026.
Chief Executive John Lee said the verdict “served justice” and that Lai had “malicious intentions,” while Beijing's liaison office called it a “stern warning” to anti-China forces. Press freedom groups Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the ruling, with RSF calling it a “sham conviction” that demonstrated Hong Kong's “utter contempt for press freedom.” Officials from the UK, Australia, and the US also criticized the verdict.
Fifteen Hong Kong policy bureaus issued Facebook statements praising the verdict, with Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Secretary Erick Tsang saying Lai “ignored the interests of the nation” and “plunged the public into chaos.” The government accused the Hong Kong Journalists Association of conducting “subversive work of brainwashing” after the group expressed regret over the conviction. The Foreign Correspondents' Club did not issue a statement.
Hong Kong’s last major opposition party, the Democratic Party, disbanded after a vote by members at an extraordinary general meeting. Party leaders had announced in February that they would hold a vote after several senior members reported being warned by Chinese officials or middlemen that they could face severe consequences, including arrest, if they continued operating. The party, founded in 1994, was the city’s leading political party for many years. Recently, some of its leaders were arrested and the party has been unable to field candidates for legislative seats.
A court sentenced a 16-year-old boy to three and a half years in prison for conspiracy to commit secession after he served as secretary of the Taiwan-based Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union, attended six meetings, and gave advice on the group's structure and policies advocating Hong Kong's independence. The court said the boy was an active participant with a “clear, mature mind.”
The Hong Kong Bar Association will propose criminalizing bid-rigging following the Wang Fuk Court high-rise fire that killed at least 160 people. Chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet said bid-rigging is currently punishable only by fines. The association also will propose making construction safety guidelines legally binding after substandard protective nets were used at Wang Fuk Court despite guidelines calling for fire-retardant materials.
The Wall Street Journal told Eastern Court that former reporter Selina Cheng filed criminal charges against the newspaper under the Employment Ordinance only after the company rejected her HK$3 million ($385,500) settlement demand. Cheng, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, alleges the Journal dismissed her in July 2024 for her union activities. The company is seeking a permanent stay, arguing Cheng abused Hong Kong's private prosecution system.
Japan
Nara District Court prosecutors demanded life in prison for Tetsuya Yamagami, who killed former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a July 2022 campaign event in Nara. Yamagami admitted the killing. He said he was motivated by a grudge against the Unification Church, which he perceived Abe as supporting. Yamagami’s mother is a follower of the church and he testified that she impoverished the family by making donations to it. The trial has focused on whether his troubled upbringing should trigger a mitigated sentence.
About 450 plaintiffs sued Japan's central government for unconstitutional climate inaction, arguing that its inadequate policies violate their rights to a peaceful life and stable climate. The lawsuit, Japan's first climate claim against the government, seeks ¥1,000 (US$6.50) per plaintiff. The complaint said Japan's emissions reduction targets fall short of UN climate panel recommendations and lack binding legal force.
The Justice Ministry presented draft revisions to Japan's retrial system that would enable courts to order prosecutors to submit evidence during retrial request hearings. Disputed issues include the scope of evidence disclosure and whether to ban prosecutorial appeals of decisions granting retrials.
Koreas
Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk said former President Yoon Suk-yeol began preparing to impose martial law as early as October 2023, more than a year before his Dec. 3, 2024 declaration. Cho spoke to a press conference as he wrapped up his 180-day probe into the short-lived martial law episode, which led to Yoon’s impeachment. The investigation concluded that Yoon planned to form a military junta and eliminate political opposition, and sent drones into North Korea to provoke military retaliation that would justify martial law. Cho’s team brought criminal indictments against twenty-seven persons including Yoon.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Noh Sang-won, former head of the Korea Defense Intelligence Command and a close confidant of Yoon’s defense minister, to two years in prison for illegally collecting military intelligence and accepting 26 million won in bribes between September and December 2024. It was the first case brought by Special Counsel Cho to reach sentencing. The court found that Noh gathered intelligence to support Yoon’s claims of opposition election fraud, and that his actions were “a driving force” for the martial law declaration.
Prosecutors requested a four-year prison sentence for Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the People Power Party for allegedly accepting 100 million won ($67,600) from the Unification Church in 2022 in exchange for supporting the church's policy interests, in violation of the Political Funds Act. Kweon denied the charges and said he had no relationship with the church official who allegedly provided the funds.
The Seoul Central District Court ordered the arrest of former Vice Land Minister Kim Oh-jin for favoritism in awarding the contract for President Yoon Suk Yeol's 2022 presidential residence relocation to an unlicensed interior company. Prosecutors suspect the selection was influenced by ties to the former first lady. Kim acknowledged at his hearing that higher-ups had “strongly recommended” the company.
The Korean Association of Private University Presidents said it will file a constitutional complaint challenging Article 11 of the Higher Education Act, which caps tuition increases at 1.2 times the average inflation rate. The association, representing 154 private universities, argues the regulation violates university autonomy by controlling tuitions without providing government funding. The National Assembly lowered the cap from 1.5 times in July, effective in 2026.
The Supreme Court said it will create internal rules to establish dedicated trial panels to handle insurrection, foreign aggression, and military rebellion cases, with courts receiving such cases designated as “special tribunals” and their other caseloads transferred elsewhere. The court acted to preempt legislation proposed by the ruling Democratic Party that would allow non-judicial officials to participate in selecting judges for insurrection tribunals. The judiciary opposed the bill as undermining judicial independence.
Taiwan
Five Constitutional Court justices ruled unconstitutional amendments to the court’s own procedural rules that have paralyzed it for more than eleven months. However, three other sitting justices refused to participate and issued a statement to the media calling the decision invalid. The amended Constitutional Court Procedure Act, which took effect Jan. 25, requires ten justices to hear cases and nine to declare laws unconstitutional. The court normally has fifteen justices, but has been reduced to eight since the terms of seven justices ended in 2024. The opposition-controlled legislature has rejected all President Lai Ching-te’s nominees to fill the vacancies.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said he will not sign amendments to a revenue-sharing law passed by the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan. The amendments would give local governments a larger share of central tax revenue, but Cho argued they would force the central government to exceed its legal borrowing cap of 15 percent of annual expenditure. The unprecedented refusal means the law cannot take effect, sparking a constitutional debate over whether the premier can refuse to sign legislation passed by the legislature.
The Taiwan High Court acquitted Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) of corruption charges, overturning a lower court ruling that she embezzled NT$116,514 in funds intended for her legislative assistant staff. The High Court ruled that legislative assistant funds are subsidies that can be flexibly allocated rather than strict salary reimbursements. It also found that Kao paid more than NT$150,000 from her own pocket for other assistants beyond what she received from the Legislative Yuan, showing no intent to personally profit. However, the court convicted her of causing public officials to falsify documents and reduced her sentence to six months commutable to a NT$180,000 fine.
Police said the suspect who killed three people and injured eleven others in knife and smoke-grenade attacks in Taipei on Dec. 19 began by setting fires at other locations earlier in the day. The suspect, identified as a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen, jumped from the fifth floor of a department store to his death.
The Chiayi District Court sentenced ten people affiliated with the Kuomintang or Nationalist Party (KMT) to suspended sentences of ten to twenty-two months for forging signatures in a campaign to recall a Democratic Progressive Party legislator.
The Office of Trade Negotiation filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization challenging Canada's steel tariffs, including a 50 percent surtax on certain imports and a 25 percent tariff on derivatives. Canada imposed the measures in June to block low-priced Chinese steel. Taiwan said they violate WTO rules and could cost Taiwan's steel industry over $54 million annually.