November 30 - December 6

China announces plans for an ambitious nationwide system to better enforce environmental protection laws; the Hong Kong government works to control the public narrative about a deadly fire that killed at least 159 persons in seven residential high-rises; a Japanese expert panel supports creating criminal penalties for implanting gene-edited human embryos into humans or animals to produce babies; South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party sets off a firestorm by proposing to create special tribunals to adjudicate insurrection cases from former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law declaration; Taiwan’s Interior Ministry orders internet service providers to block the Chinese social media app RedNote (Xiaohongshu) for one year due to its poor cybersecurity and rampant fraud.

November 16 - November 22

China escalates its war of words with Japan over Japan’s interest in a Chinese attack on Taiwan; senior Chinese judicial advisors propose sealing the criminal records of persons convicted of minor offenses; Hong Kong authorities respond harshly to calls for voters to boycott the Dec. 7 Legislative Council elections; Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi agrees to review the possibility of punishing not only prostitutes but their customers; South Korea’s government says it will establish task forces at government agencies to investigate public officials' involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law attempt; Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses regret after the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership again fails to address Taiwan’s application for membership.

November 9 - November 15

China reins in offshore debt by regional-level state-owned enterprises; Hong Kong suspends former lawmaker and democracy activist Albert Ho from practicing as a notary public; Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi declines to retract her comment that a Chinese use of force against Taiwan “could constitute a survival-threatening situation” for Japan; a real estate development scandal linked to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung triggers the first major political crisis of his five-month-old administration; Taiwan’s Cabinet seeks to raise the penalties for fraud crimes.

November 2 - November 8

The Chinese government reportedly takes steps to rein in police abuses; Hong Kong police freeze assets linked to the Cambodia-based Prince Group as part of a multi-nation probe of its alleged transnational crimes; Japan’s government plans further revisions to its foreign investment screening law; South Korean universities begin rejecting applicants with records of school violence; Taiwan’s government continues to review legislation with an eye to strengthening legal protections against Chinese disinformation, infiltration, and security threats.

October 26 - November 1

A Chinese woman whose husband tried to kill her by pushing her off a cliff finally wins a divorce in a high-profile case; the Hong Kong police force expands its real-time monitoring CCTV surveillance system by integrating cameras managed by other departments; a Japanese court rules that the July election for the upper chamber of parliament was held in a “state of unconstitutionality” due to disparities in the value of votes in different districts; South Korea's Constitutional Court upholds a law that bans violators of the election law from voting for up to ten years; Taiwan trade negotiators say that technical consultations with the US have been largely finalized.

October 19 - October 25

China’s Communist Party Central Committee approves the outline of a new five-year economic and social development plan; the China-led International Organization for Mediation opens for business in Hong Kong; Japan’s Diet elects Sanae Takaichi, a firebrand nationalist and security hawk, to be Japan’s fourth prime minister in five years and first female head of government; the South Korean government is allowing same-sex couples to identify themselves as “spouses” or “cohabiting partners” in the next census; Taiwan’s High Court sentences a retired lieutenant general to prison for attempting to develop an espionage operation for China.

October 12 - October 18

China detains about thirty members of an unregistered Christian church network; Hong Kong’s legislature approves a long-awaited framework for regulating ride-hail services; the Japanese government asks OpenAI to refrain from infringing on Japanese anime, manga, and other IP; the Taiwan government plans to block access to TikTok on Wi-Fi networks in elementary and junior high schools.

September 28-October 4

China hands down death penalties to members of a crime group that targeted Chinese citizens in telecoms fraud schemes from a base in Myanmar; Hong Kong police plan to install tens of thousands of surveillance cameras in public spaces that will use AI-powered facial recognition; the Unification Church in Japan agrees to compensate three former believers, resolving the first of nearly 200 claims that have been lodged over its aggressive money-raising; South Korea announces stricter rules for international adoptions and President Lee Jae Myung apologizes for the government’s past lax management; Taiwan says it will not accept US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s proposal that half of the semiconductors Taiwan currently supplies to the US be made in the US.

September 21-September 27

China says it will not seek any new “special and differential treatment” as a developing country member of the World Trade Organization but will retain its current benefits; Hong Kong legislators approve a bill setting minimum standards for the city’s tiny subdivided apartments; a Japanese court says it is unconstitutional to require gender reassignment surgery in order to legally change one’s gender; former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declares his innocence at the start of a second trial on charges related to his December 2024 declaration of martial law; South Korean authorities arrest the head of the Unification Church as part of a widening corruption probe; a Taiwan court sentences four former Democratic Progressive Party personnel who were convicted of leaking sensitive information to Chinese military intelligence officials.

September 14-September 20

China’s leadership for the first time signals willingness to allow TikTok to be sold to American buyers; Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee outlines measures to stimulate the sluggish economy in his annual policy speech to the legislature; Japan rejects UN criticism that it has failed to provide sufficient information and reparations to the victims of World War II sexual slavery; South Korea says it will investigate possible human rights violations by American authorities when they raided the construction site of a Hyundai Motor-LG Energy Solution battery factory in the US state of Georgia; the Taiwan government issues a new 36-page civil defense handbook instructing citizens how to respond should China invade.