Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a mutual defense assistance pact on June 19 during Putin's first visit to Pyongyang since 2000. According to a statement from the Russian government, the Treaty on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership stipulates "mutual assistance in the event of aggression against one of the parties thereto." Putin characterized the deal as a "breakthrough document," reflecting the desire to elevate relations to a "new qualitative level."

Some 30,000 Taiwanese demonstrators surrounded the Legislative Yuan, the island's parliament, on May 21, one day after Lai Ching-te (William Lai) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in as president. They were protesting against the legislative majority's attempts to enact new laws they say would unconstitutionally limit the power of the executive. Three days before the inauguration, physical conflict broke out among lawmakers on floor of the Legislative Yuan, with five briefly hospitalized. At the center of the controversy is a measure to create the new criminal offense of "contempt of the legislature," imposing penalties even on the president for failure to cooperate with Yuan investigations.

Police in China have charged Chen Pin Lin, director of documentary Not the Foreign Force, with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble," according to Chinese human rights monitors Weiquanwang and Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch. The charge, an offense under Article 293 of China's Criminal Act, has been widely criticized for its elusive definition and use against dissidents and human rights defenders.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee on Jan. 30 announced the commencement of a four-week consultation period for a new local security law under Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution. Article 23 mandates that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) pass its own laws to prohibit crimes such as treason, secession, sedition and subversion against China's Central People's Government.

Although winning no coverage in English-language media, labor actions are spreading across China in the current economic downturn in the People's Republic. On Jan. 22, workers hung banners outside the headquarters of the Guilin No. 3 Construction Company in Guangxi province to demand payment of outstanding wages owed to hundreds of employees. On the same day, migrant workers in Jinan, Shandong province, raised banners in the city's central business district demanding payment of backlogged wages by the China Railway Construction Corporation. By definition, such actions are not authorized by the state-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU).

Hong Kong Chief Executive Ka-chiu Lee applauded the "good turnout" in the city's Dec. 10 "patriots-only" District Council elections—despite a tunrout of only 27.5%, the lowest in any race since the return to Chinese rule in 1997. He also charged that protesters had attempted to "sabotage" the vote. These were the first district-level polls since Hong Kong's government overhauled the electoral system, introducing changes that effectively made it impossible for pro-democratic candidates to run. Several pro-democracy hopefuls failed to obtain the required nominations from government-appointed committees. Most of the city's leading democracy advocates are behind bars, in exile, or have dropped out of politics.

The Chinese government has increased mosque closures in the northern Ningxia region and Gansu province, home to significant populations of Hui Muslims, according to a report released Nov. 22 by Human Rights Watch. The campaign of closures marks an expansion of the policy beyond the Uyghur people of Xinjiang region.  Officially termed "consolidation," the campaign calls for shutting down mosques or modifying their architectural features to align with more typically Chinese aesthetics. The Hui Muslims, a distinctive ethno-religious group in China numbering over 10 million, are now at the forefront of concerns regarding the government's broader campaign to "consolidate" mosques.

Hong Kong District Court judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung handed down a judgment Aug. 31 sentencing Tommy Yuen Man-on, a former Cantopop boy-band member, to 26 months imprisonment. Yuen was convicted of "acts with seditious intention" among other charges. Lin found that Yuen made seditious statements on Facebook and Instagram in 2021, including posts about the death of a marine police officer, injuries suffered by then Chief Executive Carrie Lam after a fall, and cases of officer misconduct. Lin asserted that Yuen had been insulting Hong Kong's government and implicitly advocating for Hong Kong independence.