April 12 – April 18
Highlights: China issues new rules to punish foreign companies or persons who comply with other governments’ sanctions against China; Hong Kong's Security Bureau says 99 percent of young offenders convicted in the 2019 protests have participated in a government rehabilitation program; Japanese political parties are discussing proposals for increasing the number of male heirs in the imperial family; a South Korean court sentences an American YouTube provocateur to prison for offensive livestreamed stunts; Taiwan’s legislature approves a law to establish government oversight of home-based foster care.
China
The State Council issued administrative regulations designed to enhance China’s ability to identify, block, and punish foreign government actions - such as export controls or sanctions - that claim jurisdiction over Chinese persons or companies in violation of international law or norms. The Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Countering Improper Extraterritorial Jurisdiction by Foreign States (中华人民共和国反外国不当域外管辖条例) are the latest addition to China’s legal toolkit as it jousts with the United States over trade and global governance, and will further challenge multinationals that need to comply with the laws of both countries.
Chinese officials held initial consultations with solar panel equipment manufacturers about restricting exports of advanced solar manufacturing technology to the United States. Such restrictions, if adopted, could disrupt plans by Tesla and other US companies to source $2.9 billion in Chinese equipment for solar panel factories in the United States.
The founder and former chairman of the China Evergrande Group, Hui Ka Yan, pleaded guilty in Shenzhen Municipal Intermediate People's Court to charges of fundraising fraud, fraudulent securities issuance, and bribery. Evergrande, once the most valuable real estate company in the world, collapsed in 2021 under more than $300 billion in debt, triggering an industry-wide crisis that has weighed down the entire economy. Hui, who was taken into custody in 2023, also faces other criminal charges.
The National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced it would discontinue its journal ranking list, ending a twenty-two-year benchmark used in researcher hiring, promotion, and funding decisions. The decision is part of an effort to move away from over-reliance on rankings, titles, scores and other simplistic tools for measuring achievement.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern about the retroactive application of criminal law to prosecute artist Gao Zhen on charges of insulting national heroes. Gao, who has lived in the United States in recent years, was taken into custody in August 2024 during a family visit to China and prosecuted for irreverent sculptures that he made of former Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong years before the relevant law took effect. A one-day, closed-door trial was held on March 30 but no verdict has been announced.
The Cyberspace Administration of China issued new regulations for tipping live-stream hosts, replacing a 2022 blanket ban on tipping by juveniles with a tiered guardian-consent system for users ages eight to eighteen. The regulations also bar platforms from ranking streamers by tipping volume and prohibit cashback schemes and self-tipping.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised citizens traveling to the United States to avoid the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after US border officers denied entry to approximately twenty Chinese academics who held valid visas and were traveling to a conference. The ministry said the advisory responded to consecutive incidents of unreasonable interrogation and harassment of Chinese scholars at the airport.
The Chinese coast guard installed a floating barrier across the entrance to contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and anchored ships nearby in an effort to block Philippine vessels from the area. The move comes as the Philippines and United States prepare to begin large-scale exercises across the Philippine archipelago this month. China seized the shoal from the Philippines in 2012.
Hong Kong
The Security Bureau said 99 percent of young Hong Kong residents who were convicted of offenses related to the 2019 anti-extradition protests participated in Project PATH. The government rehabilitation program for detained young offenders promotes Chinese national identity and culture. The bureau said that after two or more years, the recidivism rate for program participants stood at 0.2 percent, compared with 22.4 percent for other offenders.
The Medical Council of Hong Kong removed from the register of doctors Dr. Kwok Ka-ki, a urologist and former legislator who was convicted under the National Security Law for helping to organize a 2020 unofficial primary election of pro-democracy politicians. The council said that retaining a convicted person on the register would undermine public confidence in the profession.
West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts sentenced retiree Raymond Chong to one year in prison after he pleaded guilty to publishing seditious content on Facebook. Chong’s posts called for Hong Kong independence and the dissolution of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Education Bureau issued an updated 2026 Values Education Curriculum Framework that places an increased emphasis on national identity and pride in being Chinese. Older students are expected to understand the importance of safeguarding national security and the leading role of the Communist Party. Teachers are instructed to tell students that on certain issues, there is no room for discussion. The framework must be followed by all schools.
The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau suspended implementation of a recently enacted basketball betting law over concern that it could drive participation in illegal prediction markets. Betting on sports in prediction markets is illegal in Hong Kong. The bureau said further study of prediction platforms was necessary before proceeding. Football betting has been legal since 2003.
Japan
Parliamentary leaders are collecting the views of all political parties on proposals for increasing the number of potential heirs to the throne by expanding who can be a member of the imperial family. The Liberal Democratic Party’s policy chief, Takayuki Kobayashi, told reporters that support is strong for two proposals: allowing female members of the imperial family who marry commoners to retain their imperial status, and permitting male heirs from former imperial branches to be adopted into the imperial family. The LDP hopes to revise the 1947 Imperial House Law this year. Emperor Naruhito, 66, has only three potential heirs, including a 90-year-old uncle. Allowing a woman to take the throne is not on the table.
The Justice Ministry is considering a new draft amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code that would impose some restrictions on prosecutorial appeals of court orders for retrials in cases of suspected wrongful convictions. However, the revised draft still preserves prosecutors’ right to lodge such appeals. Many lawmakers from the Liberal Democratic Party are demanding a complete ban on prosecutorial appeals after a court orders the retrial of a previously finalized conviction. The reform effort was triggered by the 2024 exoneration of a man who spent forty-six years on death row.
A Tokyo attorney launched a website that rates judges across Japan on a five-level scale, publishes commentary on their rulings and research papers, and accepts user reviews. Kazuya Tanaka said he built the site, called Saibankan Map, using generative AI after his client lost both district and appellate court rulings in a lawsuit against Google LLC seeking removal of negative Google Maps reviews.
Koreas
The Seoul Western District Court sentenced American YouTuber Ramsey Khalid Ismael, known as Johnny Somali, to six months in prison for a series of offensive live-streamed stunts. Ismael was convicted of multiple charges including obstruction of business and distributing fabricated sexually explicit content. One video showed him kissing and performing a lap dance on a statue commemorating victims of the Japanese military’s sexual slavery during World War II.
The Seoul Central District Court held the first preparatory hearing in a state compensation suit brought by 117 women who said the South Korean government forced them into sexual slavery for US troops stationed in the country in the 1950s. The court said the government had failed to file a written response even though the suit was filed in September 2025, and ordered it to do so.
The Supreme Court ordered e-commerce operators Gmarket, SSG.com, and Lotte Shopping to add screen reader support for visually impaired users, ruling that the anti-discrimination law requires websites to provide alternative text to qualify as accessible. However, the court rejected the plaintiffs’ claim for damages because the platforms lacked the intent or negligence required for liability.
The National Human Rights Commission, South Korea's independent state human rights body, asked Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and Prime Minister Kim Min-seok to seek the transfer to South Korea of two North Korean soldiers who were captured while fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Both soldiers expressed their desire to defect rather than be returned to North Korea.
Taiwan
The Taiwan People's Party (TPP) expelled from its ranks the controversial mainland-born legislator Li Chen-hsiu (李貞秀), thereby automatically stripping Li of her seat in the Legislative Yuan as a party-list member. The TPP's Central Review Committee found that Li had made numerous statements and actions that harmed the party's reputation and damaged party unity. Li was the first China-born naturalized Taiwanese to become a democratically elected lawmaker, but the government had challenged her eligibility to hold the seat on the grounds that she did not complete the legally required process to renounce her People’s Republic of China nationality.
The Taipei District Court sentenced former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) to sixteen years in prison for accepting bribes and embezzling public funds by inflating the salaries of his publicly funded assistants. The court also convicted his wife, Hsu Hui-yu (徐慧諭), of corruption and embezzlement charges and sentenced her to four years and six months.
The Taipei District Court convicted social worker Chen Shang-chieh (陳尚潔) of negligent homicide and sentenced her to two years in prison for failing to detect and report the abuse of the infant Kai Kai (剴剴), who died after being beaten and starved by his foster caregiver in 2023. The court held that Chen’s repeated failure to investigate warning signs had a strong causal relationship with the infant's death.
The Legislative Yuan passed the Childcare Services Act (兒童托育服務法), the first dedicated legal framework for home-based care of children under two, in response to Kai Kai’s death. Among other things, the law requires providers to upload CCTV footage to government-designated platforms with a minimum thirty-day retention period. It also mandates public disclosure of the names of care providers who have been convicted of abuse or sexual assault.
Lawmakers from the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) proposed holding a referendum to allow caning as a punishment for “major crimes” such as child abuse, sexual assault, and large-scale fraud. Critics noted that Taiwan is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits corporal punishment.
The Taiwan High Court sentenced six active and retired military personnel to up to eight years and six months in prison for leaking military secrets to China. The court convicted five of developing an organization for China in violation of the National Security Act and one of disclosing national defense secrets in violation of the Criminal Code of the Armed Forces.
The Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office indicted nine active and discharged military officers on charges of leaking military intelligence to China. Prosecutors allege Chinese intelligence recruited a Taiwanese civilian who used loans and bribes to compromise the officers; the civilian then allegedly coerced the officers into recording videos pledging allegiance to China and handing over videos and photographs of military bases and sensitive documents.