The Teaching and Researching International Law in Asia (TRILA) programme, based at the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore, builds on a decades-long tradition of advancing and enhancing the teaching and researching of international law in Asia. More than the strengthening and fostering of teaching and research cultures, TRILA also aims to cultivate a vibrant community of international law scholars across the Asian region. Tony Anghie, the head of TRILA will reflect on the evolution and impact of TRILA and explore the changing landscape of legal academia in Asia. The conversation will situate TRILA within the broader Global South and international efforts to rethink the teaching of international law and the role of Asian scholars in changing and reshaping international law.

Twelve months ago, President Donald Trump declared “liberation day” and launched a tariff war against the entire world, including key American trade partners in East Asia. Over succeeding months, additional tariffs were announced, modified, and withdrawn against countries and specific goods, such as steel and aluminum. Henry Gao, law professor at Singapore Management University and a trade expert, will take stock of the lasting impact of Trump’s weaponization of tariffs on East Asia and the global trading system. He also will ask whether the tariff war could bring a silver lining: the opportunity to finally address long-festering problems with the old trade system.  

In his book, Revitalizing the World Trading System, published in 2023, Alan Wolff guided readers through the past, present and potential futures of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this talk and subsequent conversation, he will update his prescriptions for WTO reform in light of the recent turn to unilateral tariffs, bilateral trade deals concluded under their threat, and reforms to the multilateral trading system now being proposed by both the Trump Administration and the EU.  Mr. Wolff, one the leading trade experts of our time, will also consider the implications for Asia of these unprecedented challenges (and opportunities) for the world trading system.

The Trump administration’s efforts to secure more control over Greenland have put China’s activities in the Arctic under a spotlight. Since 2018 when China declared itself to be a “near-Arctic state” with strategic interests in the region, it has expanded its Arctic research activities, acquired more icebreaking vessels, conducted Arctic patrols with Russia, and sent a ship from Asia to Europe through the Arctic Ocean along Russia’s northern coast – a route China has dubbed the “Polar Silk Road.” But is any of this activity contrary to international law or dangerous to the US? Professor Yuanyuan (Kate) Ren at the University of Dayton School of Law, an international law scholar who formerly worked at the Polar Research Institute of China, will explain how China interprets international law at the polar regions and what is publicly known about its Arctic goals.  

Singapore now ranks with Paris and London among the top-3 venues for international arbitration, despite being much newer on the scene.  Lucy Reed, President of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre Court, a prominent arbitrator and international lawyer, will explore the reasons, which include government commitment, supportive legislation, first-rate courts, Maxwell Chambers, SIAC, and a truly international outlook.

International law and the international order are currently challenged on two fronts: externally, by the Global South; and internally, by the United States under its own leadership. What does this mean for the future? In his new book, The Law and Politics of International Legitimacy (Cambridge University Press, 2025), Jean-Marc Coicaud explores this question by examining the role of legitimacy in international life. Drawing on his first-hand experience in Asia, where he lived for nearly a decade, Coicaud also considers how regional powers—particularly China and Japan—may influence the reshaping of international law and the global order.

intensifying rivalry between the United States and China is reshaping the international order. The transactional diplomacy of the Trump administration is accelerating the erosion of established institutional guardrails. In this challenging moment, University of Tokyo Professor Ryo Sahashi says that Japan is working to reinforce global stability. Through careful management of its alliance with the US, proactive engagement with European and Indo-Pacific partners, and cooperation with Global South nations, Japan is trying to maintain regional balances, prevent conflict escalation, and preserve economic networks and free trade. Professor Sahashi will share his policy recommendations for how Japan and like-minded nations can collaboratively navigate the shifting global landscape.

The international legal order is fragmenting into multiple “geo-legal orders,” in which the interpretation and operation of international law will increasingly depend on the spheres of influence of leading states and political groupings. This raises a basic question: how will a multipolar international order work? What normative constructions will emerge to bind the new geo-legal orders together? Dr. Malcolm Jorgensen, a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, will share his current research in progress.

The promulgation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in 2011 helped focus attention on the need for companies to develop responsible and sustainable approaches to business activities, including their distant supply chains. More than a decade later, severe human rights violations such as forced labor still persist. A distinguished panel of experts will discuss what investors, corporations, NGOs, and government policymakers in the US and Japan are doing now to fulfill their responsibility to protect human rights in supply chains.

We continue our “Taiwan Legal” speaker series by examining the United Nations’ position on the legal status of Taiwan. In 1971, the UN General Assembly passed Resolution 2758 declaring that the “representatives of the Government of the People’s Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations,” displacing the Republic of China, which had held the “China” seat since the UN was founded. Jacques deLisle, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, will explain the background and legal effect of the resolution, how the PRC reads--and misreads-- it and why this 54-year-old resolution matters today.   

Professor Jose Alvarez provided tips and advice on what law reviews and other publishers are looking for in articles on the subject of international law.  This is an insider’s look at what it takes to be published in both student-edited and peer-reviewed journals. 

The National Security Law, which was imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, takes precedence over local law and has profoundly affected civil liberties and the right to fair trial. Does international law no longer matter in Hong Kong? Carole Petersen, professor of law at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, finds that in cases not affecting Beijing’s core interests, local judges still rely on international and comparative sources and still rule against the local Hong Kong government. This has been particularly evident in strategic litigation to advance the rights of the LGBT community. Petersen concludes that if the local government is serious about trying to rebuild Hong Kong’s international reputation, then it should accept and fully implement these rulings.  

Private law scholars have viewed Anglo-American common law as the core infrastructure of modern capitalism the world over. But what happens when rising powers like China with very different legal and political systems begin investing abroad on a vast scale? Our speaker, Matthew Erie, associate professor at the University of Oxfordr esponded to this question by launching a six-year project, called China, Law, and Development, and inviting scholars around the world to participate in gathering empirical evidence about the legal underpinnings of China’s worldwide investments, and whether or how China has disrupted prior assumptions about the relationship between law and development. In this talk, he will introduce the concept of “law as infrastructure” to make sense of the strategies and challenges of the People’s Republic of China. Rather than a “clash of civilizations” or a world remade in China’s image, law as infrastructure points to a process of layering, assembling, and bundling different laws and legal regimes including new law that is integrated within existing frameworks, epistemic communities, and institutions, as well as the creation of new infrastructures in emerging sectors such as renewable energy.

Ensuring women’s property rights has long been seen as essential to ensuring their enjoyment of other human rights, from personal safety to economic development. The expert committee that interprets and seeks to enforce the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has over the years developed a unique body of jurisprudence interpreting the convention’s requirement that women enjoy property rights equal to those of men. What is surprising is that this jurisprudence – which encompasses the right to contract, administer property, access credit and government benefits, make use of agricultural land, access adequate housing, and more – has received very little attention from scholars. Law Professor José E. Alvarez, director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at NYU Law School, will explain what he calls CEDAW’s “progressive property jurisprudence.”

An obscure reef in the South China Sea has become the latest flashpoint in China’s long-running campaign to dominate the South China Sea. Since last summer, the Chinese Coast Guard has repeatedly employed water cannons, lasers, and acoustic weapons and rammed Philippine Navy and Coast Guard vessels to prevent them from resupplying military personnel positioned at Second Thomas Shoal. Jay Batongbacal, a lawyer and professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, will discuss how this tiny maritime feature became a potential conflict site, why a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal in the Philippines’ favor has not ended the dispute, and how international law can continue to be effective in the face of Chinese attacks.

China now boasts the world’s largest distant water fishing fleet, the third largest commercial shipping fleet by deadweight tonnage, advanced technology for exploring the deep sea, and its own global satellite system. It is about to complete its fifth research station in Antarctica. All this makes China a major actor in determining the future of the high seas – waters outside of national jurisdiction.

The women’s movement in the Republic of Korea has been one of the most active and impactful in the region. South Korea joined CEDAW in 1984 and ratified its optional protocol in 2006. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has led important reforms. But women activists are now facing a severe backlash, and the ministry itself is under attack. Korean feminist activist OH Kyung-jin will discuss the history and development of the women’s movement, the role played by CEDAW in its achievements, and the factors that have produced the current backlash against women’s rights activism.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is one of the most widely embraced international conventions, ratified by 189 states including states in East Asia. But what impact has it had on the actual lives of women in East Asia?

Conflicts over specific rules lie at the heart of the narrative of China's island disputes with its neighbors in the East and South China Seas. But the main contest concerns the strategic waters associated with those islands. o consolidate control over this vital maritime space, China's leaders have begun to enforce "China's Law of the Sea"…

联合国《消除对妇女一切形式歧视公约》（CEDAW）是唯一一部全面保障妇女人权和防止性别歧视的国际条约。负责监督成员国落实、履行公约的机构名为联合国消除对妇女歧视委员会。众所周知，委员会的主要任务是跟进成员国在妇女权利方面取得的进展；而鲜为人知的是，通过发布各种文件，委员会也在积极阐释、发展CEDAW的规则体系。

China now boasts the world’s largest distant water fishing fleet, the third largest commercial shipping fleet by deadweight tonnage, advanced technology for exploring the deep sea, and its own global satellite system. It is about to complete its fifth research station in Antarctica. All this makes China a major actor in determining the future of the high seas – waters outside of national jurisdiction.

Over a decade has passed since the United Nations adopted the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Human Rights Now, a Tokyo-based international human rights NGO, works to promote awareness and implementation of the principles in Asia.

The UN Security Council is again deadlocked, this time over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But Professor Bing Bing Jia, one of China’s leading international law scholars, argues that the United Nations remains irreplaceable as a forum for diplomacy and for breaking political stalemates through application of international law. 

In July 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. The UNGA calls upon states, international organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders to “scale up efforts” to ensure a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for all. It took five decades of advocacy to elevate the right to a human right of universal recognition. The distinguished panel of experts will walk us through the journey and highlight possible lessons for gaining recognition of a universal human right to claim innocence.

The concept of international human rights has greatly evolved over time and has expanded to incorporate new types of rights. Advocates, scholars, and human rights lawyers have gained invaluable experience in the course of promoting new rights and having them recognized as international human rights. In this session, two leading experts on human rights and the controversy surrounding the recognition of new rights will share their insights for the innocence community.

Over the last decade, a growing number of countries have adopted new laws and other mechanisms to address a gap in national criminal legal systems: the absence of meaningful procedures to raise post-conviction claims of factual innocence. These legal and policy reforms have responded to a global surge of exonerations facilitated by the growth of national innocence organizations that increasingly collaborate across borders. These developments have occurred with little direct help from international law. Although many treaties recognize extensive fair trial and appeal rights, no international human rights instrument—in its text, existing interpretation, or implementation—explicitly and fully recognizes the right to assert a claim of factual innocence. This omission is international law’s innocence gap. This panel will present its analysis of the gap and discuss ways to address it.

At a time when the capacity for effective UN Security Council responses, even in response to aggression, seems stymied, how should we understand the posture of China and India in response to Ukraine and other formidable global challenges, including climate change?

Recent developments in the United States and Asia make this a good time to examine the state of women’s rights protection, with a particular focus on the interplay between domestic and international law and norms.