September 06 – September 12
Highlights: China's Supreme People’s Court issues its first guidance on deciding artificial intelligence disputes; a Hong Kong court sentences three former organizers of the Tiananmen candlelight vigils to prison for inciting subversion; Japan's consumer agency calls for regulation of website interfaces that steer online shoppers into choices against their own interests; South Korea's Interior Ministry nominates a former senior prosecutor to lead the new agency that will take over major crime investigations from prosecutors next month; Taiwan's president promulgates a law directing the government in principle to budget US$1.3 billion annually for the military to purchase domestically made drones.
China
The Supreme People's Court issued the Opinions on Adjudicating Cases Involving Artificial Intelligence (关于依法审理涉人工智能纠纷案件的意见), its first judicial guidance dedicated to AI disputes. The document tells courts how to apply the Civil Code, the Personal Information Protection Law, and other existing laws to AI cases. Using AI without consent to generate a person's likeness, clone a person's voice, or compile a person's private information from public data infringes personality rights. Training a model on personal information that is already lawfully public is generally permitted. Other provisions cover algorithmic price discrimination, self-driving cars, open-source developers, AI-assisted inventions, and AI-generated court filings. An English summary is here.
The Wuhan Culture and Tourism Bureau fined a promoter and a theater for the July 2026 performance at which leading comic Guo Degang altered the lyrics of a well-known song about wartime resistance against Japan. The bureau found that the companies violated the Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performances (营业性演出管理条例) because the lyric change had not been approved in advance, and fined them. It said revolutionary songs carry the nation's memory of the war and may not be distorted. Guo has not performed in public since.
The National Financial Regulatory Administration released a draft revision of the Insurance Law (保险法) for public comment. The draft responds to a decade of scandals in which conglomerates such as the Anbang Insurance Group (安邦保险集团) used proxy shareholders and fake capital to turn insurers into private financing vehicles. The draft revision would require regulators to identify insurers' ultimate controllers, ban shareholders from holding equity for undisclosed third parties, and set procedures for winding up failed insurers with only limited payouts from the state-backed guarantee fund.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and eight other agencies issued a five-year plan for the intelligent connected new energy vehicle industry (智能网联新能源汽车产业发展"十五五"规划). It calls for large-scale deployment of self-driving vehicles by 2030 but also tighter rules on vehicle approvals, software updates, and antitrust enforcement in the auto sector.
The National Development and Reform Commission and State Administration for Market Regulation issued a notice on calculating costs in below-cost pricing cases (关于重要工业品低价无序竞争成本核算有关事项的通知). The Price Law bars selling below cost to drive out competitors, but regulators had no rules for determining a company's actual costs. Regulators will now use a company's own audited unit cost, or a downwardly adjusted industry average when that cannot be determined. The notice is the latest step in a campaign against ruinous price competition.
The Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Ministry of Finance jointly published six cases of local officials disciplined for creating hidden government debt or falsely reporting debt reduction. Beijing has pressed localities since 2023 to retire trillions of yuan in off-budget borrowing by local government financing vehicles.
Courts sentenced three senior officials for corruption during the week. The Xinyang Intermediate People's Court in Henan province sentenced Jin Xiangjun, former governor of Shanxi Province, to death with a two-year reprieve (a penalty typically commuted to life imprisonment) for accepting more than 148 million yuan (US$22 million) in bribes. Another court sentenced Wang Jianjun, former vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, to life in prison for taking more than 93 million yuan (US$14 million) in bribes to help companies list. Both pleaded guilty. The Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhou Jun, former president of the Shanghai municipal government's main investment holding company, to death with a two-year reprieve for embezzling more than 154 million yuan (US$23 million) and taking bribes. Zhou has appealed.
The party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection expelled two former ministers from the party and referred both for prosecution on bribery allegations: Wang Xiangxi, former minister of emergency management, and Sun Shaocheng, former party chief of Inner Mongolia and the country's first minister of veterans affairs.
The Commerce Ministry imposed provisional anti-dumping measures on dichlorosilane imported from Japan, a chemical used to make semiconductor chips that Japan leads the world in producing. Beginning September 8, 2026, importers must post cash deposits with customs of up to 99.2 percent of the import value, pending a final ruling. Japan's government protested and said it would “respond appropriately.”
A US federal criminal trial of Huawei Technologies on racketeering, trade secret theft, and sanctions charges opened in Brooklyn. Prosecutors allege that Huawei stole trade secrets from five US companies, including Cisco and T-Mobile, and hid its Iran business to move US dollars through American banks. Huawei denies the charges and says the incidents were isolated acts of individual employees.
The US National Security Agency, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency published a joint report accusing six Chinese AI developers, including DeepSeek and Alibaba, of systematically extracting the functionalities and capabilities of US models such as GPT and Claude to train their own models, in violation of the US companies' terms of service. The report alleged the Chinese companies likely acted with Chinese government awareness.
Hong Kong
A panel of national security judges sentenced three former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China to between five years and two months and seven years and three months in prison for inciting subversion. The Alliance organized annual candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Chinese military attack on peaceful protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square and called for an end to one-party rule in China. It disbanded in 2021 after the government banned the vigils and arrested its leaders. Chow Hang-tung, who maintained her innocence, received the longest term; Lee Cheuk-yan received seven years; Albert Ho, who pleaded guilty, received the shortest. The judges acknowledged the defendants never advocated violence or put forth a concrete plan to overthrow the state. The court also fined the Alliance HK$1.5 million (about US$190,000). Chow and Lee plan to appeal.
The District Court sentenced two men in their twenties to about three years in prison for conspiracy to commit secession. Both pleaded guilty to joining a tiny Taiwan-based group that advocates Hong Kong independence and calls for US sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials. Both men have autism, according to their mitigation statements.
A magistrate convicted the publisher of the Wall Street Journal of violating the Employment Ordinance by deterring a reporter from taking a trade union post. Selina Cheng brought a private prosecution after the Journal fired her in 2024, shortly after she was elected chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. The magistrate found that the company had required her to seek its approval before running for the office. However, he acquitted the company of firing her for her union activity. The offense is punishable by a fine of up to HK$100,000 (about US$12,800).
Tung Chee-hwa, who served as Hong Kong's chief executive from 1997 when the city returned to Chinese rule until 2005, died at age 89. The former shipping tycoon had never previously held government office. His government attempted in 2003 to enact national security legislation but dropped the effort after an estimated 500,000 people marched against the measure.
Japan
The Consumer Affairs Agency published an interim report calling for comprehensive regulation of website “dark patterns,” meaning user interfaces that steer consumers into decisions against their interests. Examples include unclear price displays, fake reviews, and pressure tactics. The agency said existing laws cannot reach many of these practices. It plans to submit legislation to next year's ordinary Diet session, along with a separate bill to bar businesses from obstructing cancellation of online subscriptions.
The Asahi Shimbun reported that a labor office awarded workers’ compensation to a Japanese employee of a US military contractor who developed a mental illness after harassment by a supervisor at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. Such awards are rare because Japanese authorities cannot enter US bases without permission under the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement. Prosecutors separately declined to indict an American supervisor the man accused of assaulting him on the base, citing lack of jurisdiction because US military authorities had already disciplined him.
A man left quadriplegic by a 2002 shooting in Nagoya is campaigning with his wife to abolish the statute of limitations for attempted murder. Japan abolished the limitations period for murder in 2010 but not for attempted murder, and his case lapsed in 2017 with no suspect identified. Their petition to parliament remains pending.
Koreas
The Seoul Central District Court acquitted former President Yoon Suk Yeol of abuse of authority and harboring a criminal for appointing former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup as ambassador to Australia while Lee was a suspect in an alleged cover-up of a Marine's death. A special counsel had sought five years in prison, arguing that Yoon used state power to help a suspect evade investigation. The court found no proof of that intent. It also acquitted five other former officials. Separately, Yoon appealed his July conviction for false statements as a 2022 presidential candidate, arguing that the election-law offense is so broad that it invites arbitrary punishment.
The Interior Ministry recommended a former senior prosecutor to be the first commissioner of the Major Crimes Investigation Agency, the new body under the ministry that will take over investigations from prosecutors when a revised Criminal Procedure Act takes effect on October 2. Kim Ji-yong faces a National Assembly confirmation hearing before President Lee Jae Myung appoints him.
The Korean National Police Agency, which will handle most non-major crimes investigations, created a reform task force with the aim of changing the agency’s operational systems and culture. Public debate over the reform that strips prosecutors of all investigatory powers - motivated by concerns that prosecutors are too powerful - has surfaced widespread concerns about police investigatory abilities. At a National Assembly interpellation session, Prime Minister Han Seong-sook said the prosecution reform reflects public demand and that problems it creates can be fixed through police reform.
The Seoul Economic Daily reported that several senior prosecutors have declined the deputy prosecutor general post, vacant since late July. The top post has been vacant for fourteen months. Candidates reportedly fear being asked to drop criminal charges against President Lee that were put on temporary hold during his term of office.
Prime Minister Han Seong-sook Han told lawmakers that a constitutional amendment sought by President Lee Jae Myung would not let Lee himself serve a second term. Lee wants to replace the single five-year presidential term with two four-year terms and strengthen checks on presidential power. The constitution already bars term-limit changes from applying to the sitting president, but the opposition People Power Party argues that this clause could itself be amended. Constitutional amendments require two-thirds of all lawmakers and a national referendum.
A National Assembly forum renewed calls to amend the sexual violence punishment law to cover non-contact “bodily fluid attacks.” South Korean law requires physical contact for a sex crime, so police have routinely charged such attacks as property damage. In July, the Supreme Court held that secretly making a victim consume semen in her coffee was a use of force against her body, and police have since begun reviewing similar cases as sex crimes. A Democratic Party bill addressing the issue has been stalled in committee since 2024.
South Korea’s revised espionage law takes effect on Sept. 13, but critics worry that it may be both under-inclusive and over-inclusive. On the one hand, it may not cover theft of advanced technology such as semiconductor knowledge, which would need to be defined as a “state secret” to fall within the law; on the other hand, it may create uncertainty about legitimate technology transfers to foreign customers. The National Assembly amended Article 98 of the Criminal Act on February 26 with the goal of broadening its coverage. The original language defined espionage narrowly as actions on behalf of an “enemy state,” understood to mean North Korea; the new language includes spying for any foreign country or organization.
Reuters published a detailed report on North Korea's push to steer household spending into state-run malls, resorts and mobile payment apps. Analysts say the strategy squeezes the informal markets that have fed North Koreans since the 1990s famine and lets the state track private spending.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service said it is still trying to verify whether Kim Jong Un has a son but reaffirmed that his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, believed to be about thirteen years old, is his likely successor. North Korea has never been led by a woman.
Taiwan
President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) promulgated the Act on Strengthening Defense Autonomy and Developing the Unmanned Vehicles Industry (強化國防自主暨無人載具產業發展條例), which directs the government in principle to budget NT$40 billion (US$1.26 billion) each year for six years to purchase domestically made drones for the military. Lai had pushed for a slightly smaller NT$210 billion (US$6.62 billion) drone budget, also to be spent over six years but without the need to go through an annual budget process. The opposition-controlled legislature rejected that proposal and passed its own version on August 27, saying that closer legislative oversight was needed. Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), who has blocked several opposition-drafted laws this year by refusing to countersign them, countersigned this one. Taiwan has a relatively small drone industry and Lai wants to build it up.
Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) attended a conference on democracy in Italy with Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), her second trip to Europe in a year. Officials as senior as the vice president rarely travel abroad because of Beijing's pressure on host governments. China's Foreign Ministry lodged protests with Italy and the European Union. Italian government officials did not plan to meet the delegation.
The Taiwan High Court sentenced businessman Cheng Ming-chia (鄭明嘉) to ten years and six months in prison under the National Security Act (國家安全法) for recruiting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, which cultivates supporters abroad. The court found that Cheng passed contact information for potential recruits in Taiwan to Chinese officials and arranged meetings in China. It also sentenced a retired Executive Yuan official whom Cheng recruited, Hu Peng-nien (胡鵬年), to five years in prison for attempting to recruit three others.
With local elections set for Nov. 28, New Taipei prosecutors opened vote-buying cases against Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) City Councilor Yang Chun-mei (楊春妹), for giving voters laundry detergent, and a candidate for ward chief, the lowest elected office, for giving soy sauce and toothpaste to an apartment complex's management committee. The Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) sets no monetary threshold for vote buying, but prosecutors in practice tolerate promotional items worth less than about US$1.
The Ministry of Labor said food delivery platform foodpanda violated the Delivery Workers' Rights Protection and Delivery Platform Management Act (外送員權益保障及外送平台管理法) by docking couriers' pay for deliveries that ran past time limits the platform set on its own. The act, which took effect July 21, requires platforms to pay couriers for the actual time a delivery takes. Foodpanda faces fines of up to NT$100,000 (US$3,200) per affected courier.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office charged Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), her brother, and an associate with embezzling NT$13.79 million (US$438,000) in campaign contributions through false invoices issued by the brother's companies. Lin denies the charges. She was previously indicted in June 2025 on charges of filing false expense claims. Those charges are still pending.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted DPP legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) on charges of damaging public property for cutting cables on police barricades during a December 2024 protest against three laws the opposition majority had just passed. Chung's lawyer argued that he was exercising the right of resistance.
Russia's de facto embassy in Taipei screened a 1945 Soviet documentary on the defeat of Japanese militarism to about twenty invited Taiwanese academics and public figures. Taiwan's National Security Council said it is monitoring Chinese-Russian cooperation in “cognitive warfare,” which officials say now includes Beijing's line that Japan is remilitarizing. Taiwan's Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) targets covert political activity by Chinese officials, so Russian officials face less legal scrutiny for the same conduct.