May 4-10, 2025

China’s Foreign Ministry denies that the government requires its companies to illegally collect or store data; a retired New Zealand Supreme Court judge is nominated to join Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal; Japanese legislators push the operators of social media platforms to take steps to counter election-related misinformation and disinformation; a council that represents South Korean judges will hold an emergency meeting to discuss concerns over judicial independence; Taiwan’s government proposes legislation to tighten supervision of child care providers to guard against abuses.

April 20, 2025-April 26, 2025

China’s State Council strengthens implementation of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law; Hong Kong authorities gazette a bill that would ban e-cigarettes; a Japanese court orders Amazon to compensate a Japanese distributor for failing to remove competing counterfeit Chinese products from its platform; South Korean prosecutors accuse former President Moon Jae-in of accepting bribes from an airline during his time in office; Taiwan’s Supreme Court throws out the death sentence given to a man convicted of abducting and murdering a Malaysian university student.

April 6, 2025-April 12, 2025

The Chinese government responds to rising US tariffs with higher tariffs of its own, warning: “We don’t back down”; Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal loses another overseas non-permanent judge; leading members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party confirm that Chinese officials ordered the party to dissolve; a Japanese legislative commission debates whether and how to address online disinformation and misinformation; South Korea’s acting president fills the Constitutional Court’s nine-member bench; partisan turmoil continues on the floor of the Taiwan legislature.

March 23, 2025-March 29, 2025

Chinese authorities release five Chinese employees of the American due diligence firm the Mintz Group after holding them for two years without trial; a Japanese court strips the Unification Church of its status as a religious organization; the clock is ticking in the impeachment trial of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol as the Constitutional Court continues its deliberations; Taiwan’s Executive Yuan approves a proposal to establish a Personal Data Protection Commission.

March 9, 2025-March 15, 2025

China calls for stronger legal measures against Taiwan independence; Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal makes plans to live-stream some hearings; Japan’s government considers moves to speed up criminal retrials to correct injustices; police in South Korea increase security measures in anticipation of a Constitutional Court ruling next week in the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol; Taiwan President Lai Ching-te proposes legal and economic measures to counter Chinese infiltration of Taiwan’s society.

February 23, 2025-March 1, 2025

Western governments and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees condemn Thailand’s deportation of 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China; a Hong Kong court convicts former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting of rioting during the 2019 Yuen Long MTR incident and sentences him to 37 months in prison; a Tokyo court finds a former Chinese employee of Japan’s state-run research body guilty of giving confidential data to a Chinese company; South Korea’s Constitutional Court wraps up its hearings in the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol; a Taiwan court acquits a retired rear admiral and three other defendants of charges that they accepted money from China to develop spy networks in Taiwan.

February 9, 2025-February 15, 2025

China’s Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate issue new typical cases; the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association sues her former employer, the Wall Street Journal; President Donald Trump’s comments that Nippon Steel would invest in US Steel instead of pursuing a takeover reportedly took both companies by surprise; South Korea’s opposition-led National Assembly calls on Acting President Choi Sang-mok to completely fill the bench of the Constitutional Court as it hears the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol; Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature votes to impose new requirements to initiate the recall of elected officials.

January 12-January 18

China’s Supreme People’s Court interprets the marriage and family law in an effort to resolve contentious issues such as child custody; former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai appeals his 2022 fraud conviction; a Japanese district court orders the government to compensate a detainee for positioning a surveillance camera in his cell; South Korean investigators seek a court warrant to formally arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol; legislators from Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party petition the Constitutional Court to review controversial amendments that could paralyze the court itself.

December 15 - December 21

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies that the government operates secret police stations abroad; Hong Kong’s chief executive supports using ballot boxes that will scan voters’ ballots in next year’s legislative election; Japan’s lower house agrees to abolish controversial policy activity funds that lawmakers can spend without disclosure; South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol defies summons from investigators seeking to question him about his attempt to impose martial law; Taiwan’s opposition parties pass controversial legislation to constrain the Constitutional Court, raise the threshold for recalls, and channel tax revenues to local governments.