September 27 – October 03
Highlights: China announces additional details of summit-related agreements with the United States; Chinese police gain expanded powers to conduct remote cybersecurity inspections of companies; Hong Kong national security police arrest a journalist on suspicion of sedition after he filmed a gathering that marked the anniversary of a 2019 police raid on protesters; Japan empowers its police and military to disable servers to stop serious cyberattacks; South Korea replaces its powerful Supreme Prosecutors' Office with a new, pared-down prosecution service; Taiwan's opposition-controlled legislature rejects all twenty-seven of President Lai Ching-te's nominees to the Control Yuan, the branch of government that investigates and impeaches officials.
China
The Ministry of Commerce released further details (in Chinese, in English) of agreements reached in talks ahead of the Sept. 23-25, 2026, Xi-Trump summit meeting.
With respect to the US$30 billion worth of non-critical imports from each other that will enjoy tariff reductions, tariffs on about 90 percent of the covered goods will revert to standard most-favored-nation rates. This reduction will apply only to a small portion of the two countries’ overall trade, however.
China confirmed that US coal would enjoy reduced tariffs but did not confirm the White House statement that China would buy at least 10 million tons of American coal in each of 2027 and 2028.
Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent already held the first round of the new AI dialogue, and another round will be held before the end of November. The ministry confirmed the US announcement that the governments would establish a communication channel for exchanging information about “AI incidents.”
The two sides agreed to continue talking about increasing direct passenger flights, which have not recovered to pre-COVID levels. An even-vaguer consensus in principle was reached for China to approve US and other foreign financial service institutions to operate in China; meaningful access for US banks and other financial institutions to China’s market has been an elusive goal for decades.
See last week’s post for previously announced summit outcomes.
Beginning October 1, 2026, the Ministry of Public Security has expanded powers to inspect companies’ handling of data and personal information. The new Measures for Public Security Organs' Supervision and Inspection of Cyberspace Security (公安机关网络空间安全监督检查办法) update 2018 rules to reflect the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law, both enacted in 2021. Police at the prefecture level or higher may test companies' systems remotely, including through penetration testing.
The ministry's cybersecurity bureau publicized two cases in which company legal representatives received eight-month suspended prison sentences for refusing to perform network security management obligations. The two companies had ignored police orders to stop renting out servers without identity checks and posting illegal content for a fraud ring, respectively.
Rules barring misleading online marketing of financial products took effect on September 30, 2026. The Measures for the Administration of Online Marketing of Financial Products (金融产品网络营销管理办法), issued by the People's Bank of China and seven other agencies, ban companies from promising that an investment will protect principal or guarantee returns. Persons not employed by financial institutions may not promote financial products or give stock tips on livestreams, short videos, or social media. Payment apps must separate loans from payment options at checkout, so users can clearly see how much they are borrowing.
Class-wide controls on brorphine-related synthetic opioids (奥啡类物质) took effect on October 1, 2026. The listing by the Ministry of Public Security and two health regulators defines the class by chemical structure, so that new variants are covered automatically. Fentanyl-related substances have been controlled as a class since 2019. Chinese production and export of synthetic opioids and precursor chemicals has long been an irritant in its foreign relations, including with the US.
The State Council approved draft Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Public Institutions (事业单位登记管理条例), a category that includes state-run schools, hospitals, research institutes, and other public service bodies. The regulations would replace interim rules issued in 1998.
The China National Intellectual Property Administration released for public comment draft Measures for Handling Matters Under the Revised Trademark Law (施行修订后的商标法相关业务处理办法) and draft Trademark Examination and Adjudication Guidelines (商标审查审理指南), which implement the newly revised law. Comments are due November 12.
The Supreme People's Court released model cases including one in which the Hainan Free Trade Port Intellectual Property Court held that notice-and-takedown alone does not shield a video platform from liability if it is able to detect and filter infringing uploads. The IP court took jurisdiction of the case from a lower court in order to set a uniform standard.
Prosecutors in the city of Qingdao indicted Yi Huiman, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission from 2019 to 2024, on charges of taking bribes during his years at the commission and the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
The Foshan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Peng Xiaochun, a former vice chairman of the Guangxi region's political advisory body, to death with a two-year reprieve after he pleaded guilty to taking more than 263 million yuan (US$39 million) in bribes. Such sentences are usually commuted to life imprisonment.
The Ministry of Public Security said mainland and Hong Kong police dismantled an underground banking network that moved money across the border for gambling and fraud operations. Police arrested more than 170 suspects in coordinated raids in May and seized assets worth about HK$170 million (US$22 million).
The People's Bank of China fined four banks, including the Postal Savings Bank of China, a combined total of more than 49 million yuan (US$7.3 million) for violations that included failing to verify customers' identities and to report large or suspicious transactions.
The Ministry of Public Security also publicized eight cases of what it called new types of organized crime, including sextortion, predatory online lending, and staged complaints about contaminated food.
The China Coast Guard said it conducted law-enforcement patrols east of Taiwan and around Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines in 2012.
Hong Kong
National security police arrested independent journalist Tang Ho-wing on suspicion of sedition in connection with an August 31 gathering he filmed outside a subway station where riot police raided protesters on that date in 2019. Police said participants shouted seditious slogans and spread false information about the raid. The Hong Kong Journalists Association said Tang is the first journalist known to be arrested on a sedition charge under the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (維護國家安全條例).
The Department of Justice asked the Court of Appeal to increase what it called manifestly inadequate sentences for a former prison officer and three inmates who seriously injured an 18-year-old inmate in 2023. The District Court had sentenced the officer to three years in prison and the inmates to four to six months.
The Securities and Futures Commission and the Securities Commission Malaysia introduced a joint procedure allowing companies seeking simultaneous listings in Hong Kong and Malaysia to file one application and one listing document. The regulators said the procedure will reduce duplicative review and compliance costs.
Japan
Amendments to the Police Duties Execution Act (警察官職務執行法) and the Self-Defense Forces Act (自衛隊法) took effect on October 1, 2026, allowing police and the military to access and disable servers to stop serious cyberattacks before they cause damage. Such operations generally require prior approval from an independent oversight commission.
New guidelines requiring foreign applicants for permanent residency status to earn about 5.75 million yen (US$36,500) per year—more than the average Japanese household—took effect on October 1, 2026. The requirement applies to applications filed since April 2026. In addition, the application fee rose twenty-fold, to 200,000 yen (US$1,280), following an amendment to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (出入国管理及び難民認定法). Over the past year, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government has taken multiple steps to both clarify and raise the requirements for foreign residents in Japan; here is a summary.
A law requiring employers to protect workers from abusive customers took effect on October 1, 2026. Under the 2025 amendment to the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives (労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律), employers that fail to adopt response policies and consultation channels may be publicly named.
The Tokyo District Court ruled that publicity rights, which protect a person's name and likeness from unauthorized commercial use, also protect against unauthorized use of a voice. Japan has no statute that expressly protects voices. However, the court dismissed voice actor Kenjiro Tsuda's demand that TikTok remove videos he said used an AI clone of his voice. The court said the videos had already been deleted.
Koreas
South Korea’s 78-year-old Supreme Prosecutor’s Office closed and was replaced with a Public Prosecution Service on October 2 after a year of preparation. Criminal investigations now belong to the police and, for corruption and other major crimes, to a new Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. President Lee Jae Myung, who pushed for the change as necessary to prevent politically motivated investigations, said that if police officers manipulate cases, they should generally be fired. (See last week's item.)
The United Nations Command, the US-led body that enforces the 1953 Korean War armistice, determined that an armistice violation had occurred after finding an active North Korean mine on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone. The mine detonated on Sept. 21, injuring three South Korean soldiers. Unlike in a similar 2015 incident, the command did not say which side was responsible. South Korea's joint chiefs of staff accused North Korea of violating the agreement and demanded an apology.
The South Korean Cabinet approved a bill to govern the building, operation, and safety of nuclear-powered submarines, which the United States agreed in 2025 to support. A draft of the bill released in July would also bar diverting the submarines' nuclear fuel to weapons. The bill now goes to the National Assembly.
The South Korean government announced plans to invest US$174 billion in two more energy-related projects in the United States in fulfillment of its pledge to invest US$200 billion in strategic industries over a ten-year period in exchange for tariff relief. However, South Korean lawmakers from both major parties said verification is needed of the commercial viability of the US$54 billion Alaska gas venture and eight US nuclear reactors worth US$120 billion. The government has already announced plans to invest in a US$22 billion gas-fired power plant in Texas. Two parliamentary committees must approve the projects if they are not shown to be commercially viable.
An arbitration tribunal again ordered the South Korean government to pay US hedge fund Elliott Investment Management US$48.5 million under the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement for intervening in the state pension fund's vote on a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates. A UK court had sent the case back after ruling in February that the pension fund is not a state organ. Elliott said the tribunal found the government liable regardless of the fund's status.
A special counsel sought a twenty-year prison sentence for Daegu Mayor Choo Kyung-ho on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection. As floor leader of the then-ruling People Power Party, Choo allegedly moved an emergency party meeting three times on the night of former President Yoon Suk Yeol's December 2024 martial law declaration to keep lawmakers from voting to lift martial law. Choo denies the charges.
A South Korean court overturned an immigration office's refusal to give a full refugee review to an African man who says he is gay and comes from a country that criminalizes homosexual acts. Officials had doubted his sexual orientation because of his social media activity. The court said that because sexual orientation can be judged only from circumstantial evidence, the claim could not be rejected without a full review.
The Transitional Justice Working Group, a Seoul-based human rights organization, said in a report that North Korea detains suspected would-be defectors without legal process in its Beijing embassy before forcibly repatriating them. The group alleged that Chinese authorities sometimes tolerate or assist these operations.
Taiwan
The opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan rejected all twenty-seven of President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) nominees to the Control Yuan, the branch of government that investigates and impeaches public officials. The Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) accuses the Control Yuan of targeting opposition politicians. Without members since July 31, the body cannot impeach officials or impose fines. The KMT has repeatedly refused to approve appointments to key institutions, including independent commissions and the Constitutional Court.
The KMT listed as priority legislation an amendment to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) that would allow voters to overturn Constitutional Court judgments. The proposal is a response to the court's December 2025 decision striking down legislative amendments that would have prevented the court, then down to eight justices, from hearing cases.
The Mainland Affairs Council said eleven of the twenty-five China-born persons registered as candidates in the November local elections may be ineligible. Under the council's April 2026 interpretation of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), such persons cannot run for office until ten years after they show proof of giving up their household registration in China. Local election commissions are expected to rule on the candidates’ eligibility by October 17.
Prosecutors in Kaohsiung indicted three former servicemen on charges including violating the National Security Act (國家安全法) by spying for China. Prosecutors said that, with funding from a Chinese Communist Party intelligence unit since late 2020, a retired air force sergeant obtained tank specifications and details of the annual Han Kuang military exercise from a relative then serving in the army.
Prosecutors in Taipei indicted two men on charges including intimidation and property damage over a May attack on a comedy club whose headliner has mocked Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Prosecutors said one defendant, on instructions from an unidentified person in China, hired the other to throw paint mixed with human feces at the club.
Prosecutors in Taipei indicted the head of the local office of Lontium Semiconductor, a Chinese chip company, on charges of violating the cross-strait relations act by operating the office without government approval. Prosecutors said the company used the office to recruit Taiwanese engineers for chip research and development.
The Taiwan High Court overturned the bribery convictions of Eastern Media Group president Wang Ling-lin (王令麟) and six others, including three former prison officials. Prosecutors alleged that Wang gave officials gifts and lodging in exchange for special treatment while he was in prison for embezzlement. The court held that gifts and close ties are not bribery under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) unless prosecutors prove that a benefit was exchanged for a specific official act.
The Taiwan High Court acquitted former Professor Wang Lung-chang (王隆昌) in a retrial held fourteen years after his bribery conviction became final. He had served more than three years in prison after being convicted of taking NT$1.2 million (US$37,600) in bribes as a member of a government bid-evaluation panel. The court found that the conviction rested on the inconsistent and uncorroborated testimony of the man who said he paid the bribes.