Taiwan Legal: What Does International Law Say About Defending Taiwan?
Thursday, October 9, 2025
12:00 - 1:30 pm (Eastern)
Furman Hall 318 and on Zoom
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About the event:
The United States and other countries that engage in friendly but unofficial relations with Taiwan generally maintain “strategic ambiguity” on the question of whether they would help Taiwan defend itself against a possible armed attack by China. Their decision would undoubtedly be affected by many factors, including how the world would regard third-party intervention (especially military intervention), in a China-Taiwan conflict. Would the United Nations, and international law more generally, view third-party military intervention in a cross-Strait conflict as an illegal use of force? In this installment of our occasional speaker series, “Taiwan Legal,” Professor Julian Ku of Hofstra University School of Law will explain what international law says about the use of force for self-defense and collective self-defense.
For earlier talks in this series, see Richard Bush on “What does US law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Peter Dutton on “What does international law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Jacques deLisle on “What does the United Nations say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Yu-Jie Chen on “What does ROC law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); and Bing Ling on “What does PRC law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here).
About the speaker:
Julian Ku is the Maurice A. Deane distinguished professor of constitutional law at Hofstra University School of Law, and this year is visiting professor at Columbia University School of Law. His primary research interest is the relationship of international law to constitutional law. He also writes about international dispute resolution, international criminal law, and China's relationship with international law, and teaches US constitutional law, US foreign affairs law, transnational law, and international trade and business law. Since 2014, he has served as the faculty director of international programs, overseeing Hofstra Law's study abroad, exchange, and LL.M. programs. He is the co-author, with John Yoo, of Taming Globalization: International Law, the U.S. Constitution, and the New World Order (Oxford University Press, 2012), and has published more than 40 law review articles, book chapters, symposia contributions, and essays. He co-founded the leading international law blog Opinio Juris and is a contributing editor to Lawfare. Professor Ku was law clerk to the Honorable Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He is a member of the American Law Institute.