March 22 - March 28
China
The Ministry of Commerce opened two six-month counter-investigations into US trade practices that disrupt global supply chains and hinder green energy trade. The ministry described the probes as reciprocal responses to two US Section 301 investigations targeting China.
Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met separately with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic at a World Trade Organization meeting in Cameroon and called on each to strengthen bilateral trade cooperation and avoid politicizing economic ties. Wang expressed concern to Greer about the USTR's Section 301 investigations and asked Sefcovic to relax EU controls on high-tech exports to China.
The Supreme People's Procuratorate issued guidelines (关于深化和规范检务公开工作的意见) defining categories of information that procuratorates should proactively disclose to the public, may choose to proactively disclose, may disclose upon application from parties to litigation, and may not disclose.
The Ministry of Education banned primary and secondary schools from assigning excessive homework, holding frequent exams, cutting into students' break time, and rewarding or punishing teachers based on their students’ college entrance examination scores. Authorities have previously attempted to somewhat relax China’s competitive academic culture, with little success as most parents believe intensive study is necessary to do well in life.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that China's open-source AI models now lead global usage rankings and that Beijing's deployment of AI across manufacturing and robotics generates real-world training data that gives Chinese labs a self-reinforcing competitive advantage despite US chip export restrictions. The report said China is well positioned to capitalize on the shift toward physical and agentic AI.
Hong Kong
The Hong Kong Police Force's National Security Department arrested bookstore owner Pong Yat-ming and three employees on suspicion of knowingly selling seditious publications, including a biography of former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai. All four were released on bail. Pong, owner of Book Punch, is already being tried on charges of operating an unlicensed school for offering Spanish classes at the store.
The Security Bureau proposed amendments to the implementing rules of the National Security Law that require suspects to surrender passwords to their devices. Security Secretary Chris Tang said police must generally obtain a court warrant before issuing such demands, except when a national security offense is so imminent that applying for one is impractical. The proposed new rules also increase the penalty for someone deemed to be a foreign agent who fails to disclose information sought by the authorities.
The Labour and Welfare Bureau proposed a smoking ban on all construction sites, replacing the current system of site-specific rules based on fire risk assessments, with penalties for workers who smoke and contractors who fail to enforce the ban. The proposal comes after a public inquiry found that smoking most likely caused the November 2025 Wang Fuk Court fire that killed 168 people.
Japan
A draft of this year’s edition of the Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Bluebook downgrades the status of relations with China from “one of Japan’s most important” to “an important neighboring country.” It also criticizes China for adopting coercive measures against Japan, such as restricting rare earth exports and targeting Japanese military aircraft with radar. In an apparent concession, however, the draft drops the phrase that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are important for Japan’s security. Bilateral relations have been severely strained since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last November that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could pose a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan.
Japan expressed regret and reinforced security after a Japanese soldier scaled a wall and entered the Chinese Embassy compound in Tokyo. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the response was “far from enough.”
The Justice Ministry said it will double the minimum residency requirement for naturalization to ten years starting April 1. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi instructed Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi in November to tighten the rules on acquiring Japanese nationality, saying the current conditions were too lax. The number of foreign nationals resident in Japan reached a record 4.13 million in 2025.
The Cabinet approved draft legislation to extend mandatory identity verification to short-term SIM cards as well as data-only mobile subscriptions, a category current law exempts and fraudsters have exploited in investment and romance scam cases. The bill would also authorize carriers to refuse bulk line applications and permit police to access subscriber records in messaging-app fraud investigations.
The Asahikawa city government agreed to pay ¥70 million ($467,000) to settle a civil damages claim brought by the family of Saaya Hirose, a 14-year-old girl who died from hypothermia in 2021 after being bullied. The family had sought about ¥115 million. They alleged that the school and city board of education had been aware of the bullying but downplayed it and failed to respond appropriately to the abuse.
Koreas
About twenty members of the advocacy group Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination staged a bus-boarding protest at Gwanghwamun Station in Seoul to demand a legislation that protects mobility rights for disabled people and increases the number of accessible low-floor buses. The protest disrupted morning rush hour traffic and prompted a temporary road closure. Police deployed riot units to block the activists and removed some of them.
The National Tax Service of South Korea reassessed about 1,000 Ulsan delivery workers for about 100 million won ($66,000) each after finding their tax agent had overstated tax deductions over five years. A union leader who sought leniency at the Dongulsan District Tax Office set himself on fire when his request was rejected, and sustained serious injuries.
South Korean police recorded at least twenty “proxy revenge” incidents this year, in which clients hired strangers through platforms such as Telegram to vandalize targets on their behalf. South Korean law imposes equal liability on those who commission such acts and those who carry them out.
North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly reappointed Kim Jong-un to a third consecutive term as president of the State Affairs Commission, elevated Jo Yong-won to chair of its standing committee, and adopted undisclosed constitutional revisions. The State Affairs Commission was expanded from eleven to thirteen members, with several high-profile figures removed — including Kim Yo-jong, the leader’s powerful sister. Kim officially designated South Korea as the “most hostile state” and declared North Korea's nuclear status irreversible.
Kim Jong-un announced plans to reorganize internal security forces into a new police structure. The Ministry of State Security, meanwhile, has been renamed the State Information Bureau. Outside analysts believe the changes may be part of a larger effort to adopt institutional frameworks common in other countries.
Taiwan
The Taipei District Court sentenced Taiwan People's Party founder and former presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to seventeen years in prison and six years of civil rights deprivation after convicting him of accepting bribes tied to a real estate development project, misappropriating political donations, and breach of public trust. The sentence means Ko will be ineligible to run in the 2028 presidential election, as the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act disqualifies candidates convicted of corruption or sentenced to ten or more years. Ko denies wrongdoing and plans to appeal.
The New Taipei District Prosecutors' Office indicted Xu Chunying (徐春鶯), chair of the Taiwan New Immigrants Development Association, on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act, the Banking Act, fraud, and document forgery. Prosecutors allege that Xu gave information about Taiwan politics to officials at China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Shanghai chapter of the Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, and organized Taiwan People's Party campaign activities on their behalf.
The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation’s board of directors authorized a probe into alleged financial misconduct by former Chief Executive Officer Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) and former deputy CEO Wang Kuang-tzu (王光慈). Former President Ma Ying-jeou announced Hsiao’s and Wang’s departure from his foundation on social media and accused them of financial improprieties. Hsiao, who also is deputy chairman of the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), the main opposition party, denied a media report that he was suspected of engaging in improper activities in China.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it will take retaliatory measures if Denmark continues listing Taiwanese citizens' nationality as “China” on residence permits. Denmark's immigration authority confirmed the designation was intentional because Copenhagen does not recognize Taiwan as an independent state. Taiwan's representative to Denmark responded that the Danish Foreign Ministry has never publicly stated that Taiwan belongs to the PRC.