May 10 – May 16
Highlights: Chinese President Xi Jinping warns US President Donald Trump that mishandling disagreements over Taiwan could push the two countries toward conflict; China's legislature considers the first comprehensive revision of the Agriculture Law since 2002; Japanese legislators begin discussing a draft amendment to the constitution that would allow the Cabinet to extend Diet members’ terms during national emergencies; a South Korean appeals court increases the prison term given to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's interior minister for aiding him in declaring martial law in 2024; Taiwan's Legislative Yuan prepares to vote next week on a motion to impeach President Lai Ching-te that is expected to fail.
China
President Xi Jinping warned President Donald Trump at their Beijing summit that mishandling disagreements over Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory, could push the two countries toward conflict. On his flight back to Washington, Trump said that he and Xi discussed arms sales to Taiwan “in great detail” and that he would decide soon about a pending $14 billion arms sales package to Taiwan. Trump also said: ““I think the last thing we need right now is a war that’s 9,500 miles away.”
Xi sought to put the relationship on a more stable footing. Chinese state media said as the summit closed that the presidents “agreed on a new vision of building a constructive bilateral relationship of strategic stability.”
Trump, who came seeking commercial deals, said China indicated it would buy buy 200 planes from US company Boeing as well as more agricultural products. The two countries also agreed to set up a “board of trade” to manage trade relations. Trump said they did not directly discuss tariffs, however.
Trump told Fox News that Xi pledged not to provide military equipment to Iran and offered assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz. China did not confirm this account.
In a concrete display of cooperation, China's Ministry of Public Security, the American FBI, and Dubai police jointly dismantled nine telecoms fraud centers in Dubai and arrested 276 suspects. The US Department of Justice called the operation unprecedented, as geopolitical tensions have limited US-China law enforcement cooperation on transnational cyber fraud.
During the same week, however, two criminal cases in the US highlighted the continued tensions. The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced that Eileen Wang, mayor of a heavily Chinese-American Los Angeles suburb, agreed to plead guilty to acting as a covert agent of the Chinese government and resigned.
And in Brooklyn, NY, a jury convicted Lu Jianwang of three felony counts for operating an undisclosed Chinese police outpost in Manhattan's Chinatown on Beijing's behalf.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress began reviewing the first comprehensive revision of the Agriculture Law since 2002, shifting the statute's framework from grain production and urban relocation of surplus rural labor toward broader food security and climate resilience. The draft calls for compensating regions that preserve farmland over development and extends equal employment and social security protections to rural migrant workers.
The National Medical Products Administration and six other agencies issued the Pharmaceutical Representative Management Measures, effective August 1, to curb pervasive drug-industry kickbacks by barring company representatives from tracking physician prescriptions or earning sales commissions. A parallel Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate interpretation, effective May 1, reduced by half the threshold for prosecuting bribery in health care.
The State Administration for Market Regulation conditionally approved Tencent Music's US$2.4 billion acquisition of Ximalaya, merging China's dominant paid music and long-form audio platforms. The regulator found the merger could restrict competition and prohibited exclusive copyright deals, fee increases, and restrictions on creators joining rival platforms.
TikTok parent ByteDance asked the EU Court of Justice to overturn the platform's “gatekeeper” designation under the Digital Markets Act, which imposes competition obligations on dominant platforms with fines up to 10 percent of global revenue. ByteDance argued that most European TikTok users also use competing platforms, and therefore TikTok lacks an entrenched market position.
Hong Kong
Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong appeared in West Kowloon Magistrates' Court as proceedings were completed for his pending national security case to be transferred to the High Court. Wong is accused of conspiring to collude with foreign actors to take actions hostile to Hong Kong or China. Also accused in the case is Nathan Law, who now lives in the UK. Wong and Law co-founded the now disbanded political party Demosisto.
National security prosecutors charged three people with conspiring to subvert state power, bringing to five the number of persons accused of participating in firearms drills, knife techniques, and martial arts combat in an industrial building in Kowloon. Five other persons also were arrested in the same case but have been released on bail.
The Transport and Logistics Bureau proposed capping the number of drivers allowed to offer ride-hailing services at 10,000 to 15,000 as it works to create a licensing regime for existing on-demand transportation companies. Uber said it already has 30,000 active drivers and proposed that 30,000 permits be issued, while taxi drivers - who number about 18,000 - have proposed a cap of 3,600.
Human Rights Watch warned that Thai authorities may deport Zhang Xinyan to China after detaining her in Bangkok for allegedly overstaying her visa. Zhang, who holds UN refugee status, is among 19 activists wanted by Hong Kong's national security police for alleged involvement in an overseas “shadow legislature” organization called the Hong Kong Parliament.
The High Court of Hong Kong froze HK$9 billion (US$1.15 billion) in assets tied to Chen Zhi and his Prince Group, which the US Treasury Department designated a transnational criminal organization for operating online fraud compounds in Cambodia. Chen, extradited from Cambodia to China in January, faces charges of fraud and concealing criminal proceeds.
The Hong Kong Bar Association proposed adding criminal penalties of up to seven years in prison for bid-rigging under the Competition Ordinance, which currently allows only civil sanctions. The proposal follows last year's Tai Po apartment fire, which killed 168 people and exposed bid-rigging syndicates linked to the building's renovation contract.
Japan
Legislators began discussing a draft amendment to the constitution that would allow the Cabinet to extend Diet members’ terms during national emergencies and issue orders with the force of law if there was no time to wait for Diet action. The draft gave four examples of emergency situations: large-scale natural disasters, widespread outbreaks of infectious diseases, disruptions to social order due to civil unrest or similar events, and armed attacks from outside. The revision would require approval by both houses of the Diet and a public referendum.
The Osaka High Court ruled that Japan's family registration system violates the constitutional spirit of guaranteeing equality under the law by providing only male or female gender designations. The court said the system should provide a non-binary option, but nonetheless dismissed the appeal of a person who seeks to change their own entry from “eldest daughter” to “eldest child.” It said the best way to correct the problem is through legislative action.
The Cabinet finalized the draft of a bill requiring prosecutors to demonstrate “sufficient grounds” before appealing court decisions granting criminal retrials. The proposal is prompted by criticism that unrestricted appeals have delayed justice for wrongly convicted defendants for decades. It is unclear how the bill will fare as many legislators have said that prosecutors should not be allowed to appeal retrial decisions.
The Tokyo District Court overturned a deportation order issued against a Filipino woman who overstayed her visa by more than two decades but whose original employer confiscated her passport, imposed debt bondage, and coerced her into sexual services. The court held that authorities were required to identify and protect her as a trafficking victim.
The Tokyo District Court upheld the Justice Ministry's denial of naturalization to a recognized refugee for insufficient Japanese language ability, ruling that the UN Refugee Convention does not limit ministerial discretion over citizenship. Naturalization in Japan remains entirely discretionary even when applicants meet statutory conditions. In April, the ministry doubled the minimum residence requirement for citizenship to ten years.
Koreas
The Seoul High Court increased former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min's prison sentence from seven to nine years for his role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's December 2024 martial law declaration. The appellate court found that Lee, knowing the declaration was unconstitutional, relayed Yoon's order to cut water and electricity to four critical news outlets.
The Seoul High Court acquitted a former soldier of attempting to defect to North Korea, finding that his 1987 confession was coerced through torture. The man served fifteen years in prison for fleeing to the enemy’s camp and violating the National Security Act.
A parliamentary conference discussed ways to help migrant workers become part of their local communities and shift away from employer-focused immigration policies. Lawmakers, government officials, and immigration experts who participated in the discussion said South Korea needs longer-staying migrant workers to address the shortage of skilled labor. The country had more than 1.1 million migrant workers as of 2025. The current work permit system encourages migrants to return to their home countries, causing recurring skilled labor shortages.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea is considering a discrimination claim filed by a man whose employer refused to give him the standard five-day marriage leave after he applied before his wedding to a same-sex partner. South Korea does not recognize same-sex marriage, but the couple planned a ceremony. The commission said in 2022 that discrimination arising from gaps in the existing legal system should be addressed through legislation.
North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly amended the 1978 labor law to raise the retirement age for office workers by three years, to sixty-three for men and fifty-eight for women, in response to population aging. The higher retirement age does not apply to manual laborers or farmers.
Taiwan
China’s Foreign Ministry said it will block Taiwan from attending this year's World Health Assembly, extending the practice it began in 2017 in retaliation for the Taiwan government’s refusal to accept Beijing’s formula affirming that Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan Health Minister Shih Chung-liang said he would lead a delegation to Geneva to attend side events.
Legislators from the opposition Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) and the Taiwan People's Party accused President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) of refusing to accept democratic checks and balances after he skipped legislative sessions that discussed a motion to impeach him. The legislators plan to vote on the motion on May 19. They accused Lai of breaching the constitution when Premier Cho Jung-tai twice refused to countersign bills passed by the legislature. The executive branch does not have the power to veto legislation. The impeachment motion is expected to fail.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare proposed starting Taiwan's statute of limitations for child sexual assault when victims turn twenty, rather than from the date of the offense. The change would extend the window for adult survivors to seek justice. The current limitations period often expires before victims are ready to come forward.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted Kidder Shen, East Asia sales director at Chinese chip designer Novosense Microelectronics, on charges of running the firm's Taiwan operations without the government approval that Taiwan requires of Chinese companies. Prosecutors alleged Shen paid four former Texas Instruments employees through offshore intermediaries to hide them from Taiwanese authorities. The case emerged from a broader investigation into Chinese firms covertly recruiting Taiwan's chip talent.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted former soldier Chen Tai-yin and active-duty army lieutenant Lee Chun-ta on charges of leaking classified training documents to a Chinese intelligence operative for NT$79,440 (US$2,527). The operative exploited Chen's debts to recruit him, and Chen enlisted Lee to photograph classified materials from Lee's officer-training course.