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.

November 10, 2024-November 16, 2024

Chinese police detain a man who they say drove his car into a group of people exercising at a sports center, killing 35; a Hong Kong reporter files a wrongful dismissal claim against the Wall Street Journal for firing her weeks after her election as the leader of the city’s largest press group; a South Korean court convicts opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of making false statements during his presidential campaign and gives him a suspended prison sentence; Japan’s prime minister keeps his job and vows to crack down on misuse of political funds; lawyers in Taiwan protest against proposed legislation that could paralyze the Constitutional Court.

China announces policies intended to boost births; a Hong Kong court upholds a new rule blocking defendants in national security cases from calling overseas witness to testify virtually; a second Japanese high court rules that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional; a South Korean court orders the state to compensate the family of a murder victim because police failed to identify and punish his killer; a Taiwan court extends the detentions of Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je and other suspects in a high stakes bribery investigation.