November 8 – November 14
Highlights: China extends its suspension of tariffs and other trade measures against the United States as it prepares for an APEC summit in Shenzhen and another meeting of the Chinese and US presidents; Hong Kong proposes to bar persons convicted of national security offenses from teaching; Japan's Supreme Court finds that unequal vote weights caused the 2025 upper house election to be in an “unconstitutional state”; South Korea's antitrust regulator fines fifteen banks and brokerages US$1.2 billion for rigging government bond auctions; Taiwan extends maternity leave and takes other measures to encourage its citizens to have more children.
China
The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council extended for two months its suspension of a 24 percent additional tariff on US imports. A 10 percent additional tariff remains in place. Other agencies extended for the same period suspensions of export controls on critical minerals, port fees on US-linked ships, and measures against twenty-seven US companies on China's export control and unreliable entity lists. The extensions come as President Xi Jinping prepares to host US President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and regional leaders at the APEC summit in Shenzhen in the coming week.
The Board of Trade that Presidents Xi and Trump agreed to establish at their May 2026 summit held its first official meeting on Nov. 13. No substantive details were released. US officials, meanwhile, publicly pressed China to honor its promises made at earlier summits to purchase more US soybeans and other farm products. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called for a “more balanced relationship” between the two countries, saying that the US must produce more of what it consumes and China must consume more of what it produces.
The National Health Commission updated its rules for managing human genetic resources. The rules address the collection, preservation, use, and export of human organs, tissues, cells, and genetic data. The Ministry of State Security has accused foreign organizations of collecting Chinese blood samples and genetic data under the guise of tourism, research, and medical testing.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission said that the government-backed China Securities Investor Services Center has sued a Beijing software company for accounting fraud on behalf of more than fifty retail investors. It is just the latest effort by regulators to restore the confidence of China's 240 million individual investors after a sharp stock market sell-off in October. The commission is also seeking comment on guidelines detailing procedures for listed companies to voluntarily compensate investors in advance of lawsuits.
Prosecutors indicted three former senior officials on bribery charges: Dai Beifang, former chairman of Shenzhen's branch of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body; Xiao Jie, a former vice chairman of Hainan Province's legislature; and Yin Jianye, a former Jiangxi Province vice governor who also headed the province's Communist Party political-legal commission, which oversees the police, prosecutors, and courts.
After a Nov. 8, 2026 fire in a highrise building killed fourteen people in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, authorities placed under control officials from the companies that owned and managed the building. According to Caixin, the property management company had been fined three times since 2023 for fire prevention and workplace safety failures, including at the same building.
Hong Kong
The government gazetted the Education (Amendment) Bill 2026, which would bar from teaching anyone convicted of offenses endangering national security. The bill also would require all teachers to hold a practicing certificate that is valid for up to three school years and requires continuing professional development. Teachers are already required to pass a test on the National Security Law and the Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution.
The government also gazetted the Sexual Offences Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2026, which would broaden the definition of rape to include male and transgender victims and create two new offenses: persistent sexual abuse of a child and “cyberflashing,” meaning sending images of one's genitals without the recipient’s consent. Many of Hong Kong's existing sexual offenses are based on a 1956 English law; some apply to only one sex or treat persons differently by sexual orientation. The government added the new offenses after holding a public consultation.
The Judiciary directed parties with claims stemming from the massive 2025 fire at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex to seek out-of-court settlements or use alternative dispute resolution before turning to litigation. The Judiciary issued two special practice notes providing guidance in civil cases and employment cases, respectively, in anticipation of a large number of claims being brought in relation to the fire, which killed 168 persons. Courts may stay suits filed without a genuine attempt to settle.
The Legislative Council passed the Northern Metropolis Development Bill, which accelerates planning, land, and construction approvals for a large development zone along the border with Shenzhen. Approval for rezoning land could be cut from nine months to two. The government intends the project to deepen Hong Kong's integration with mainland China.
The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau proposed amending the Building Management Ordinance to require bidders for major building repairs to sign a declaration that they have not colluded with other bidders. The draft amendments also would extend the deadline for prosecutions under the ordinance to two years from the current six months, and bar persons convicted of triad or fraud offenses in the past five years from serving on building owners' committees.
Japan
The Supreme Court's Grand Bench ruled 10-5 that the July 2025 election for the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Diet, was held in a “state of unconstitutionality” because of unequal vote weights. However, the court declined to invalidate the election results. A vote in the most overrepresented district carried 3.13 times the weight of one in the least represented. The court had upheld the 2022 election held under the same districts with a gap of 3.03 to one. It said the Diet's efforts to narrow the gap had stalled.
The Diet enacted an amendment to the Act on Compensation for Pollution-related Health Damage and Other Measures (公害健康被害の補償等に関する法律) to remove an age requirement that had applied only to widowers seeking survivor compensation. Widowers had to be 60 or older, on the theory that younger men could support themselves, while widows of any age could seek compensation. The government proposed the change because more women now work. It takes effect April 1, 2027.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, its coalition partner the Japan Innovation Party, and the opposition Democratic Party for the People submitted a bill to eliminate thirty-one lower house seats. All the cuts would come from the proportional representation tier rather than single-member districts. Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party say cutting only proportional seats will hurt smaller parties. The bill also proposes a seat-allocation formula intended to give smaller parties a better chance of winning proportional seats. The three parties sponsoring the bill jointly hold majorities in both houses and aim to pass the bill before the Diet session ends December 12.
The Japan Fair Trade Commission approved a commitment by Amazon Japan to ease pressure on sellers on its website to reduce their prices. In return, the commission will not find Amazon Japan in violation of the anti-monopoly law. The platform agreed to drop its practice dating from 2019 of requiring sellers to offer products at or below the lowest price on competing websites in order for their goods to be displayed on Amazon as recommended items. The commission said the policy restricted sellers' freedom to set prices.
The Tokyo District Court dismissed a suit by entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa that sought to hold Meta Platforms liable for scam ads that used his name and image. The court found that the ads infringed his publicity rights. However, it said that Meta as a platform operator was not directly involved in the posts and had taken corrective measures.
The government and the ruling coalition began discussing amendments to cyberdefense laws that would allow monitoring of communications within Japan. The laws now permit monitoring only of communications that cross Japan's borders. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ordered the review after a series of large data breaches.
Tokyo police arrested a Chinese man on suspicion of violating the Radio Act by operating a fake mobile phone base station from a car in the Ginza district. It is believed to be the first such case in Japan.
Koreas
The South Korean Fair Trade Commission fined fifteen banks and brokerages a total of 1.63 trillion won (US$1.2 billion) for rigging 150 government bond auctions from 2020 to 2023. Only these firms, as government-designated primary dealers, may bid in the auctions. The commission found that their employees shared planned bids over Telegram until the moment of bidding. The commission said this pushed up yields and forced the government to pay more interest. It referred seven firms for criminal investigation. The firms said they will sue.
The Fair Trade Commission fined the food delivery apps Baemin and Coupang Eats a combined 631.9 billion won (US$470 million) for barring restaurants from offering lower prices on rival apps. The commission said the two apps control about 93 percent of the market, leaving restaurants little choice but to comply. Both companies said they will challenge the fines in court. Coupang is separately fighting government fines for a massive 2025 data breach and for illegally collecting users’ online activity records. Coupang's Korean American founder has won support among US Republican congressmen, who allege that South Korea is discriminating against a US company.
The South Korean Financial Services Commission and the ruling Democratic Party agreed to require that only independent directors sit on the committees that nominate the chief executives of financial holding companies. The change aims to stop sitting chief executives from engineering their own reappointment. Critics say it would give the National Pension Service, a major shareholder in the banks, too much influence.
The South Korean Cabinet approved expanding the deployment of a naval task force that conducts anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden to waters south of Oman, closer to the Strait of Hormuz. The change in deployment, which now awaits approval from the National Assembly, is a response to the US request that its allies help secure the strait during its war with Iran. The Defense Ministry has said the task force, called the Cheonghae Unit, will not become involved in the war. It has been deployed in the region since 2009.
The special counsel investigating the National Election Commission searched the commission's headquarters on suspicion that it falsified a document to exaggerate the security of its servers. Two days earlier, investigators searched two Gyeonggi Province election offices on suspicion that an employee forged a vote tally sheet in the June 2026 local elections. The special counsel was appointed after ballot shortages at many polling stations in those elections, but has subsequently identified numerous other problems.
The Busan High Court increased the suspended prison sentence of Protestant pastor Son Hyun-bo for using his sermons to campaign for a conservative candidate in a 2025 election for the city's superintendent of education. Citing Son's prior election-law conviction, the court raised the sentence to one year, suspended for three years, from six months, suspended for one year. Son met President Donald Trump at the White House in August.
South Korean prosecutors indicted seven employees and former executives of a Samsung Display supplier on charges of trying to take display-panel technology designated as core national technology to China.
The South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT ordered the first compulsory investigation of a data breach under a revised law. The construction company GS E&C had refused government help in analyzing the breach.
A North Korean state website posted the full text of the country's revised constitution, two and a half years after removing the previous version. The Supreme People's Assembly adopted the revision in March. The revised text adds a territorial clause, drops all references to unification with the South, and gives the leader command of the nuclear forces.
Taiwan
The Legislative Yuan amended the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別平等工作法) to extend maternity leave to fourteen weeks from eight. The amendment also doubles paternity leave to fourteen days and allows parents to take unpaid parental leave until a child turns nine, up from the current limit of age three. A companion amendment to the Employment Insurance Act (就業保險法) lets each parent draw a parental leave allowance for up to nine months, rather than six, if both take leave. Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. The labor minister said the changes are expected to take effect January 1, 2027.
The Ministry of Labor revised its guidelines so that employers paying below the minimum wage will face rising fines for repeat violations starting in January 2027. Fines on listed companies and other large employers will start at NT$50,000 (US$1,500). Labor groups had complained that local governments imposed inconsistent penalties.
Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said the government has revoked the entry permit of Alice Huang (黃樂), a Chinese businesswoman and alleged Chinese spy reported to have had an affair with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳). China's Foreign Ministry has dismissed the allegations as groundless. The Mainland Affairs Council said she entered Taiwan eight times in 2024 and 2025 as a Hong Kong resident. Jensen Huang, who was born in Taiwan but is now a US citizen, resigned as Nvidia's CEO on Nov. 12 amid the scandal.
Papua New Guinea ordered Taiwan's diplomats to leave within seven days, abandoning an earlier agreement to give a year's notice before closing Taiwan's office. Taiwan's deputy foreign minister said China may have pressured Papua New Guinea, noting that China had offered to buy more of its natural gas.
Prosecutors pursued several cases of alleged Chinese interference in the November 28 local elections.
The Tainan District Court approved the detention of Lin Te-wang (林德旺), founder of the small Taiwan People's Communist Party, on suspicion that he violated the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) by taking instructions and money from the Chinese Communist Party to run for neighborhood chief.
New Taipei prosecutors released on bail Chou Hsiao-yun (周曉芸), a Taiwan People's Party candidate for the Taoyuan City Council, after questioning her under the same law. Chou denies wrongdoing.
Taoyuan prosecutors released on bail a neighborhood chief candidate suspected of offering voters cut-price trips to China arranged by a Chinese travel agency.
A member of a Hong Kong triad pleaded guilty to assaulting journalist and think tank head Akio Yaita (矢板明夫) in Taichung in July. He said a transnational crime ring had hired him to silence Yaita's political views.
Taichung prosecutors indicted the owner of the drone maker Align Corp. and his wife, Align’s vice president, on charges of violating the National Security Act (國家安全法), forgery, and fraud for allegedly supplying the military with drones that contained Chinese-made chips. The military's contracts prohibit using Chinese components. Prosecutors said the owner falsely certified that the drones were designed and made in Taiwan. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of at least five years for each defendant.
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the military's main research and procurement agency, ordered ten other domestic drone suppliers to replace suspected Chinese-made components. Non-compliant suppliers will be excluded from its supply chain.
Taipei prosecutors indicted defendants in two cases on charges of violating 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) by doing business in Taiwan for Chinese companies without government approval. In one case, a couple allegedly ran a Taipei company that sold products and recruited staff for a Chinese chip and wireless-equipment maker. In the other, three persons allegedly opened offices in Taipei and Kaohsiung for a Chinese pharmaceutical and health-food group.
The Supreme Administrative Court upheld a decision by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee that the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT) must return its Taichung headquarters to the city. The committee found that the KMT used its authoritarian-era power to make the city pay the party to vacate a government building it had occupied. The KMT then used the money to buy public land at a discount.
The Taipei District Court sentenced the owner and three kitchen staff of a restaurant chain to between four and twenty-two months in prison for negligent homicide over a 2024 food poisoning outbreak that killed six people.