Promoting Rule of Law and Human Rights in Asia
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute serves as a bridge between Asia and America, fostering mutual understanding on legal issues, and using constructive engagement with our partners to advocate for legal reform.
New and Notable
U.S.-Asia Law Institute Research Scholar Chi Yin published an article, “People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump: The Trial and Conviction of a Former U.S. President,” on Wolters Kluwer’s Chinese language website. She and her co-author, Arthur Chiu of Cyan Law Firm, analyze the former president’s conviction in the hush-money case to clarify common misunderstandings in China about the US criminal justice system and its relationship to the political system.
Economic nationalism is one of the few things that can unite Democrats and Republicans these days. Politicians in both parties have spoken out against Nippon Steel’s planned purchase of former giant U.S. Steel. But does the transaction truly pose a threat to US interests? Is steel still a strategic industry or does it merely evoke nostalgia for an industrial past? What national security or economic interest is at stake? After all, Japan is our most important ally in the Asia-Pacific region. And what kind of reviews must be passed for the deal to go through? Bruce Aronson assesses the proposed transaction.
Legal scholars in China generally refrain from criticizing official policies in public. Qin (Sky) Ma writes that scholars’ response to the feared shutdown of the China Judgments Online (中国裁判文书网) at the end of 2023 was a noteworthy deviation from the norm. It showed that the space for critical discourse, though constrained, is not entirely closed and that strategic engagement by scholars can have impact.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that it is awarding the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon to Frank K. Upham, the Wilf Family Professor of Property Law emeritus at NYU School of Law and co-founder of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute.
Institute News
USALI Perspectives
Economic nationalism is one of the few things that can unite Democrats and Republicans these days. Politicians in both parties have spoken out against Nippon Steel’s planned purchase of former giant U.S. Steel. But does the transaction truly pose a threat to US interests? Is steel still a strategic industry or does it merely evoke nostalgia for an industrial past? What national security or economic interest is at stake? After all, Japan is our most important ally in the Asia-Pacific region. And what kind of reviews must be passed for the deal to go through? Bruce Aronson assesses the proposed transaction.
Legal scholars in China generally refrain from criticizing official policies in public. Qin (Sky) Ma writes that scholars’ response to the feared shutdown of the China Judgments Online (中国裁判文书网) at the end of 2023 was a noteworthy deviation from the norm. It showed that the space for critical discourse, though constrained, is not entirely closed and that strategic engagement by scholars can have impact.
An unmarried Chinese woman loses her five-year legal battle to be allowed to freeze her eggs; a Hong Kong citizen challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s green light to build a 600-hectare tech hub adjoining Shenzhen; a Japanese court convicts a local police officer of leaking confidential information from more than 100 cases to a journalist; South Korean authorities indict the founder of the tech giant Kakao on charges of stock price manipulation; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court hears oral arguments in a challenge to a set of legislative amendments that significantly expand the power of the Legislative Yuan.
U.S.-Asia Law Institute Research Scholar Chi Yin published an article, “People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump: The Trial and Conviction of a Former U.S. President,” on Wolters Kluwer’s Chinese language website. She and her co-author, Arthur Chiu of Cyan Law Firm, analyze the former president’s conviction in the hush-money case to clarify common misunderstandings in China about the US criminal justice system and its relationship to the political system. Read more.
China proposes creating a national Internet ID system; a Hong Kong court allows three Tiananmen vigil organizers to appeal their convictions for refusing to provide information to the national security police; Japan considers collecting all civil and administrative court decisions in a single electronic database; Korean victims of Japan’s wartime slavery are stymied in their efforts to collect court-awarded compensation from the Japanese government; Taiwan agrees to compensate the families of two Chinese fishermen who were killed while being chased at sea by Taiwan’s coast guard.
This Week in Asian Law (August 4-10): An unmarried Chinese woman loses her five-year legal battle to be allowed to freeze her eggs; a Hong Kong citizen challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s green light to build a 600-hectare tech hub adjoining Shenzhen; a Japanese court convicts a local police officer of leaking confidential information from more than 100 cases to a journalist; South Korean authorities indict the founder of the tech giant Kakao on charges of stock price manipulation; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court hears oral arguments in a challenge to a set of legislative amendments that significantly expand the power of the Legislative Yuan.