The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that former Prime Minister Imran Khan must be transferred from prison to a hospital.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced on Tuesday that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ordered the transfer of former Prime Minister Imran Khan from prison to a hospital. The ruling meets a long-standing demand from his party and family, who have voiced concerns over his health.

The 73-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been imprisoned since August 2023, following convictions in a series of cases that he maintains were politically motivated after his removal from office in 2022.

His sons had repeatedly raised concerns over the past year regarding his deteriorating health, while his lawyers stated that he had suffered significant vision loss in his right eye during his time in detention.

PTI spokesman Zulfikar Bukhari said: “This is a welcome decision. We wish this had happened earlier so that his eye and overall health would not have deteriorated this much.”

Bukhari added: “He should remain in the hospital until all doctors are satisfied.”

Khan’s spokesman Naeem Haider Panjutha stated on X that the court had directed Khan to be moved to Shifa International Hospital within 48 hours and to remain there until 16 September.

Since being ousted from power in a no-confidence vote, Khan has faced numerous legal proceedings, including cases involving state gifts and unlawful marriage. While some convictions have been suspended or overturned, appeals against others remain pending. Khan denies the charges against him.

In February, leading figures from the global cricket community, including prominent names from across the border in India, expressed “deep concerns” over Khan’s prison conditions and demanded improved treatment for him.

PTI came to power in 2018 and retains a broad support base across key provinces. However, the party was stripped of its electoral symbol ahead of the 2024 elections, forcing its candidates to contest the polls as independents.

China has launched a global crackdown on its super-rich to collect hundreds of billions of dollars in unpaid taxes dating back decades, seeking to narrow income and wealth inequality and close a deepening budget deficit.

Authorities have intensified their scrutiny of overseas capital gains and investments, with investigations extending in some instances as far back as 2000. The campaign comes as Beijing attempts to significantly expand its oversight of outbound capital flows.

According to foreign officials, Chinese bankers, and family office executives who spoke to the Financial Times, Chinese banks and other financial institutions have been instructed to review the overseas investments of wealthy Chinese nationals and check whether the resulting income has been declared to tax authorities in Beijing.

The efforts, which form part of sweeping tax reforms targeting the country’s wealthy elite and offshore trusts, focus on gains derived from the acquisition of assets such as real estate, equities, precious metals, and cryptocurrencies.

Numerous officials, bankers, and advisers confirmed the retrospective nature of the campaign, noting that inquiries cover periods reaching back more than 25 years in certain cases.

A banker in southern China said that in recent months, Chinese banks have increasingly coordinated with tax authorities to freeze the accounts of wealthy clients until officials are satisfied that taxes on capital gains from overseas assets, accounts, and trusts have been paid.

“In standard practice, these wealthy individuals immediately pay the penalties and taxes in cash to get their accounts unfrozen,” the banker said.

The timeframes examined in the tax audits appear to vary significantly. For instance, an executive at a Shenzhen-based family office said clients were asked to pay taxes on gains generated from overseas assets between 2017 and 2022. No explanation was provided as to why that specific period was targeted.

Victor Shih, a professor of Chinese political economy at the University of California, San Diego, said the motivation behind the new campaign was “clearly rooted in fiscal reasons.”

China’s fiscal revenues, where taxes plug a critical gap, have largely stagnated since the pandemic and contracted by 1.7% in 2025 to 21.6 trillion yuan, or $3.2 trillion. Total public revenue from land sales, once a primary source of state income, fell to 4.15 trillion yuan following a real estate market downturn, down from a peak of 8.7 trillion yuan in 2021.

Last month, China also enacted comprehensive tax rules governing assets transferred to offshore trusts. According to a joint statement by China’s Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration, the regulation closed a legal loophole long utilized by wealthy individuals to protect their assets abroad.

Under the new rules, income generated from offshore trusts will be subject to a 20% tax across multiple stages.

A Singapore-based banker who manages overseas assets for wealthy Chinese nationals said the offshore trust tax “shocked” clients.

“There are people who established trusts for public assets, such as shares in listed companies. During periods when initial public offerings were very common, holding the right trust structure provided protection regarding income tax. This new decision has eliminated that advantage,” the banker said.

While experts suggest that some complex overseas structures may evade the new rules, many trust holders are expected to face a one-off tax liability. Reports indicate that some may be forced to sell assets to meet the payments.

Together with other tax reforms, the new policies will align China’s taxation system more closely with that of the US, where American taxpayers are generally taxed on their worldwide income.

Ye Yongqing, a Shanghai-based tax lawyer and partner at Anli Partners, said, “Regulatory bodies have steadily tightened oversight of cross-border capital flows, declarations of overseas income, and foreign exchange transactions. Consequently, the scope for wealthy Chinese to transfer assets abroad or structure their tax affairs through offshore vehicles has narrowed.”

Ye noted that Beijing has adopted a restrictive approach toward offshore trusts similar to US tax legislation, broadly rejecting attempts by taxpayers to use these vehicles to defer or entirely eliminate tax.

There are also indications that stricter tax collection from China’s wealthy has yielded results in recent years. Official data shows that personal income tax revenues rose 11.5% in 2025, driven by the impact of previous campaigns, including the taxation of Hong Kong stock transactions. This growth rate significantly outpaced the 0.8% expansion in overall tax revenues.

An executive at an immigration firm with offices in China and New York said authorities initially targeted wealthy Chinese trading US equities via Hong Kong or other overseas channels.

The executive said the inquiries are expected to expand next to individuals holding substantial financial assets in overseas bank accounts, particularly in Hong Kong, and ultimately to other forms of offshore wealth, including real estate.

Japan’s government is framing its accelerating military buildup not only as a means of national defense, but also as a pathway to greater prosperity, with its latest defense white paper asserting that arms production can stimulate economic growth.

The document, an annual assessment of alleged threats posed by neighboring countries China, Russia, and North Korea, calls on Japan—long constrained by post-war limits on military activity—to leverage technology, fund ventures, and incorporate a higher proportion of commercial components into weapons manufacturing.

According to a Defense Ministry presentation document, the white paper “emphasizes that defense investments benefit the overall economy and the lives of the public.” That message aligns with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s policy of utilizing broader strategic public spending to drive economic growth.

This approach is reflected in the document’s anime-style cover image. Departing from the soldiers, weaponry, and military insignia featured in many previous editions, the cover depicts a smiling family set against a glowing futuristic cityscape. A Defense Ministry official said the design was intended to convey a “futuristic image.”

The explicit link drawn between defense and future prosperity coincides with the Takaichi administration’s drafting of a new national security strategy. Military analysts anticipate that the strategy will outline further spending increases designed primarily to deter China.

“China’s military activities and other actions are a matter of serious concern for Japan and the international community, representing the greatest strategic challenge facing Japan,” the white paper states.

Remarks by Takaichi in November indicating that Japan would act militarily in the event of a potential Chinese intervention in Taiwan drew a sharp reaction from Beijing. China termed the statement “extremely grave” and demanded its retraction.

Tokyo has assembled a financing package combining tax increases, spending reforms, and one-off revenues to fund Japan’s largest military buildup since World War II, raising defense-related spending to 2% of gross domestic product. However, Takaichi has yet to clearly articulate how additional military expansion will be funded without imposing further strain on already heavily burdened public finances.

The Takaichi government secured approval for a record 122.3 trillion yen budget for the fiscal year ending in March 2027. An additional 3.1 trillion yen package was later added to shield households and businesses from rising energy costs, underscoring the competing demands placed on public resources.

To date, the bulk of the new defense spending has been directed toward missiles capable of striking targets at distances exceeding 1,000 kilometers. A significant portion of future spending increases is expected to be allocated to uncrewed aerial vehicles and other uncrewed weapons systems of the type deployed extensively by Ukraine in its war with Russia.