August 16 – August 22
Highlights: A Chinese court sentences the founder and former chairman of real estate developer Evergrande to life in prison for fraud on a massive scale; a Hong Kong court convicts two NGO leaders of incitement to subversion for peacefully calling for an end to one-party rule in China; Japan’s Foreign Ministry says the the US decision to impose sanctions against International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese citizen, is “very unfortunate”; South Korean Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho resigns and says he wants to return to the National Assembly and roll back prosecutor system reforms; prosecutors in Taiwan indict four companies and fifteen individuals in connection with the recent widespread sale of contaminated soybean-based cooking oil.
China
A Shenzhen court sentenced the founder and former chairman of Evergrande Group - one of China’s biggest real estate developers - to life in prison for fraud on a massive scale. Xu Jiayin, known in Hong Kong as Hui Ka Yan, had pleaded guilty in April. The court also ordered him to forfeit all personal assets and fined the Hong Kong-listed Evergrande Group, which was incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its mainland subsidiary, Evergrande Real Estate Group, a combined US$2.35 billion. Dozens of others tied to the group, including Xu’s sons, were sentenced to prison terms of up to eighteen years. Evergrande collapsed in 2021 under more than US$300 billion in debt, ushering in a sector-wide crisis that has dragged down the entire Chinese economy.
A court in Guangzhou said it had accepted a bankruptcy liquidation case against the mainland subsidiary. A Hong Kong court in 2024 already ordered the liquidation of the Hong Kong-listed parent company, but as most of the assets are located in mainland China, that court has limited ability to claw back assets for creditors.
The Foreign Ministry said that American scholar Min Zin, who was detained in Yunnan on June 3, is suspected of “activities that endanger China’s national security.” Min Zin founded the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar to research that country’s political, resource and conflict dynamics. The US State Department has said that he is wrongfully detained, but the Foreign Ministry rejected that characterization.
One of China’s best-known comedians is under investigation and several of his shows have been canceled after he changed the lyrics of a popular revolutionary song during a performance. Guo Degang, the country’s most prominent performer of traditional xiangsheng, a form of Chinese comedic dialogue, was reported to authorities in Wuhan after he changed a phrase in the 1950s song “Playing My Beloved Pipa” while performing in that city last month.
Shanghai authorities released the city’s latest Five-year Plan for Women’s and Children’s Development (上海市妇女儿童“十五五”规划) with calls for employers to create “family-friendly” workplaces. The plan encourages - but does not require - employers to introduce more flexible work hours, more generous leave policies, and remote-work options to make life easier for working parents; it also urges employers to consider expanding paid paternity and parental leave entitlements. Such policies are intended to help boost China’s sagging birth rate.
Hong Kong
A court convicted a now-disbanded NGO and two of its leaders of incitement to subversion for peacefully calling for an end to one-party rule in China. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was best known for organizing annual vigils in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to commemorate the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing and other cities and honor those killed in the army’s violent suppression. Former alliance leaders Chow Hang-tung, 41, a barrister, and trade unionist Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, have been detained already for five years awaiting trial. A third former leader, lawyer Albert Ho, 74, pleaded guilty. The judges acknowledged that the activists did not suggest any specific method or timetable to achieve the goal of ending one-party rule, nor did they use or advocate violence.
Japan
Authorities in Osaka executed a man who was convicted of setting a fire that killed five people in 2009. The death sentence against Sunao Takami, now 58, was finalized in 2016 after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal for leniency. The defense team had argued that Takami suffered from a mental disorder. Japan has one hundred inmates are on death row, with each having so far waited an average of more than seventeen years for execution after their convictions.
The Foreign Ministry said that the US decision to impose sanctions against International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane, who is a Japanese citizen, and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal is “very unfortunate.” The ministry expressed support for the court, which the United States accuses of being politicized. Akane said in a statement that she was not surprised by the sanctions, adding: “The important thing is not to let this be the beginning of the demise of international rule of law.” The US sanctions bar Akane and Seye from entering the United States or carrying out transactions in the US financial system.
Koreas
Justice Minister Jeong Seong-ho resigned his position and said he plans to return to the National Assembly, where he will introduce legislation to address perceived problems in the ongoing reforms of the prosecutorial system. Jeong said he was resigning due to poor health, but as justice minister he opposed completely stripping prosecutors of the power to conduct investigations. The ruling Democratic Party recently pushed legislation through the National Assembly that does just that. If prosecutors are dissatisfied with a police investigation, they may ask police to conduct a supplementary investigation but such investigations will typically have a one-month time limit.
The Interior Ministry said it is accepting nominations from the public for the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency that will launch on October 2, 2026 to investigate corruption, economic crimes, defense acquisition, drug offenses, crimes against state security, cybercrimes, and offenses involving the distortion of the law. The agency is being created as part of the prosecutorial reforms.
An Investigative Commission on Pro-Japanese Collaborators’ Property will restart operations in December 2026 to examine and seize assets accumulated through cooperation with Japanese imperial forces during the 1910–1945 colonial period. The commission originally operated from 2006-2010 and confiscated land and other assets valued at 237.3 billion won (US175 million). Its revival was mandated by a law passed in December 2025, and is part of a cultural shift in which young adults are increasingly scrutinizing their family histories.
The National Police Agency said personal information of “key domestic figures,” including presidential officials, appeared to have been compromised after a private certification agency's servers were hacked. It said the presidential office's own servers were not breached.
Prosecutors raided the home of the widow of former President Roh Tae-woo over renewed allegations that her family maintains a “slush fund” of illegally obtained money. Allegations that such a fund exists were aired during the divorce trial of the late president’s daughter, Roh Soh-yeong, and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won as they fought over the division of their property. After his presidency, Roh Tae-woo was convicted in 1996 of accepting bribes and ordered to forfeit 262.8 billion won.
A special counsel team indicted former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung without detention on charges of involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration in 2024. Shim has said he is innocent. Yoon himself, his former defense minister, and numerous military officials have already been indicted, and some have been convicted, of various criminal charges in connection with the declaration and attempts to enforce it.
Taiwan
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office indicted four companies and fifteen persons on charges that include violating the food safety law, forgery, and fraud in connection with the recent sale of contaminated soybean-based cooking oil. The oil was produced by Central Union Oil Corp (CUOC, 中聯油脂) and contained excessive levels of the carcinogen benzopyrene (BaP), a carcinogen. Prosecutors allege senior officials at CUOC knew that certain shipments of soybeans imported from Brazil had high levels of heat damage, increasing the risk of BaP forming. When tests found elevated BaP levels, they and officials of the three other companies all failed to take timely action.
The Executive Yuan appointed National Communications Commission Secretary-General Wen Chun-yu (溫俊瑜) to handle basic operations at the commission after the terms of the last three commissioners expired July 31. All seven commissioner positions are now vacant, as the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan has rejected the president’s nominees to fill them. The NCC has been unable to renew broadcast licenses, one of its core functions, since four commissioner positions were vacated in 2024. The NCC is one of several regulatory agencies that have been paralyzed by the power struggle between the Nationalist (Kuomintang or KMT) Party, which together with a smaller party controls the legislature, and the Democratic Progressive Party, which holds the presidency.
A recent Control Yuan investigation found inconsistent and inaccurate reporting by schools of their cross-strait student exchanges. Deputy Minister of Education Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said schools are required to report cross-strait exchanges on a designated registration platform, and failure to do so properly could result in funding cuts. The Control Yuan investigation reported a surge in exchanges following a COVID dip. Chang Liao said exchanges also increasingly include “united front” elements, meaning messaging in support of unification with mainland China.
The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative reported that China has conducted unprecedented operations in the waters east of Taiwan, including questioning nearly 200 commercial vessels, since Japan and the Philippines agreed in May to negotiate their overlapping claims to exclusive economic zone. The report said the activities appear designed to normalize China’s presence and establish its jurisdiction in the area. It said virtually no Chinese law-enforcement deployment was observed there in the five months before the delimitation talks were announced. A portion of the waters claimed for the Japanese and Philippines EEZs are also claimed by Taiwan and China.