Chinese universities conduct a nationwide audit of retracted academic papers; Hong Kong courts sentence more defendants in cases stemming from the 2019 protests; LGBTQ activists in Japan advocate for equal marriage rights on Valentine’s Day; South Korea convicts three former police officers for destroying evidence linked to a fatal crowd crush in Seoul on Halloween 2022; Taiwan solicits public input for the next phase of its Open Government National Action Plan.
USALI Faculty Director José E. Alvarez has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the oldest and most prestigious learned societies in the United States. He is among 252 new members announced on April 22, and one of only five law professors who were chosen.
This 10-session seminar will introduce the legal system of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – in practice as well as theory – with an emphasis on institutions, norms, procedures, personnel and ideology relating to constitutional law, criminal justice and human rights. We will view the contemporary legal process against the background of China’s legal traditions and pre-Communist efforts to develop a modern legal system. We will also consider the relevant experiences of Chinese societies in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Pioneering scholar of Chinese law, Professor Jerome Alan Cohen has taught and mentored countless others in a field he helped establish in this country. A courageous voice for those whose voices have been silenced, Professor Cohen defends human rights around the globe. Bold trailblazer and advocate, for using his many talents to create a more just world, Yale is proud to present Professor Jerome Alan Cohen with his third Yale degree, Doctor of Laws.
From USALI Faculty Director Emeritus Jerome A. Cohen: “Here’s a draft of a new article that in a way is my Apologia Pro Vita Sua. There have been some debates about whether those of us who tried to help China build its legal system in the decade beginning in 1979 committed a mistake. I offer my thoughts in the article from a frank, close-up, first-hand perspective. I hope they will be useful for people thinking about our China policy and for anyone interested in recent Chinese history.”
June 29, 2025-July 5, 2025
China revises its Anti-Unfair Competition Law to better protect trademarks and trade secrets; Hong Kong leaders mark the fifth anniversary of the National Security Law with calls to suppress “soft resistance”; South Korea’s National Assembly revises the country’s martial law rules; Taiwan prepares for legislative recall elections on July 26 and August 23 as the Democratic Progressive Party tries to undo its rival’s narrow victory in the last legislative elections.
June 22, 2025-June 28, 2025
China’s legislature approves increased detention of juvenile offenders and other revisions to a controversial administrative punishments law; Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee warns of “soft resistance” to the government and says that criticism of the government is acceptable only if it does not aim to undermine national security; Japan executes a man who killed nine persons who were seeking assisted suicide; South Korean prosecutors grill former President Yoon Suk-yeol for fifteen hours over alleged actions to obstruct justice following his aborted attempt to impose martial law; Taiwan’s legislature amends the Civil Service Protection Act to increase penalties for harassment or abuse of power.
June 15, 2025-June 21, 2025
China’s Supreme People’s Court issues typical cases dealing with online commerce and AI voice generation; Meta sues a Hong Kong company to block it from advertising an app that generates fake nude images of people; a Japanese court orders the government to compensate two asylum seekers for repeatedly detaining them without concern for their physical and mental health; South Korea implements a law criminalizing “post-crash drinking” as a strategy to interfere with blood alcohol tests; Taiwan’s opposition parties seek to abolish the Control Yuan and give its powers to the legislature.
June 8, 2025-June 14, 2025
Senior Chinese and US negotiators agree on a framework to get their trade negotiations back on track following a series of disputes; Hong Kong and Chinese national security police carry out their first known joint operation; Japan’s political parties fail to agree on new rules for political donations, with the scandal-ridden Liberal Democrats favoring a less restrictive approach; US President Donald Trump signs an executive order paving the way for a Nippon Steel investment in U.S. Steel; two South Korean courts postpone indefinitely criminal trials of newly elected President Lee Jae-myung; prosecutors in Taiwan indict four former members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party on charges of spying for China.
June 1, 2025-June 7, 2025
A junior Chinese judge flees the country with up to 300 million CNY from a court account; Hong Kong prosecutors accuse former student activist Joshua Wong of conspiring with foreign forces against Hong Kong; a Japanese court reverses course and rules that former executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company are not liable for failing to protect the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant against a tsunami; the day after Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung is sworn in as South Korean’s president, his party resumes the country’s toxic domestic politics; Taiwan’s Supreme Court finalizes sentences for ten persons convicted of making propaganda videos for China.
May 25, 2025-May 31, 2025
China and Japan report progress in talks to lift China’s ban on importing Japanese seafood; Hong Kong hosts a signing ceremony for the new treaty-based International Organization for Mediation; a Japanese court orders the government to compensate three businessmen wrongly accused of exporting goods capable of producing biological weapons; the front-runner in South Korea’s presidential election campaign proposes amending the constitution to make it harder to impose martial law; Taiwan’s Executive Yuan finalizes a controversial set of proposed legal and administrative measures designed to counter Chinese infiltration.
May 18, 2025-May 24, 2025
China’s Private Economy Protection Law takes effect; Hong Kong journalists say the city’s tax authorities are targeting independent news outlets for audits; US President Donald Trump announces his approval of a partnership between Japan’s Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel that appears to still be in negotiation; prosecutors in Taiwan accuse local leaders of the opposition Nationalist (KMT) Party of fraud in collecting signatures for recall elections of Democratic Progressive Party legislators.
May 11, 2025-May 17, 2025
The US and China deescalate their trade war with an agreement to cancel some tariffs and suspend others for 90 days; a Chinese court sentences a Japanese man to twelve years in prison for alleged espionage; Hong Kong enacts new national security-related legislation to facilitate Beijing directly exercising jurisdiction over selected Hong Kong national security cases; South Korea’s Democratic Party seeks to rescue its presidential candidate from his legal woes by changing the law under which he is charged; Taiwan’s ruling party asks the Constitutional Court to review the constitutionality of opposition-enacted measures that substantially reduce central government revenues.
May 4-10, 2025
China’s Foreign Ministry denies that the government requires its companies to illegally collect or store data; a retired New Zealand Supreme Court judge is nominated to join Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal; Japanese legislators push the operators of social media platforms to take steps to counter election-related misinformation and disinformation; a council that represents South Korean judges will hold an emergency meeting to discuss concerns over judicial independence; Taiwan’s government proposes legislation to tighten supervision of child care providers to guard against abuses.
April 27, 2025-May 6, 2025
China’s legislature approves a law to bolster the private sector and unveils the draft of a comprehensive environmental code; Hong Kong authorities accuse the father and brother of an exiled democracy activist of breaking the law by trying to help her access funds from an insurance policy; Japan’s opposition parties propose legislation that would allow married couples to choose whether to use one family name or separate names; South Korea’s Supreme Court orders a retrial of presidential front-runner Lee Jae-myung on changes of violating the election law; Taiwan’s government revokes the citizenship or permanent residency of about twenty persons as it enforces a widely ignored ban on holding dual Taiwanese and mainland official IDs.
April 20, 2025-April 26, 2025
China’s State Council strengthens implementation of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law; Hong Kong authorities gazette a bill that would ban e-cigarettes; a Japanese court orders Amazon to compensate a Japanese distributor for failing to remove competing counterfeit Chinese products from its platform; South Korean prosecutors accuse former President Moon Jae-in of accepting bribes from an airline during his time in office; Taiwan’s Supreme Court throws out the death sentence given to a man convicted of abducting and murdering a Malaysian university student.
April 13, 2025-April 19, 2025
China accuses the US National Security Agency of hacking infrastructure of the Asian Winter Games, held in Harbin in February; the Hong Kong government moves to tighten control over trade unions based on national security concerns; Japan’s Fair Trade Commission orders Google to stop forcing smartphone manufacturers to pre-install its apps; a South Korean court begins the criminal trial of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges; Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says sixty-two active-duty military personnel have been found to hold Chinese residency permits, and as a result are now barred from handling intelligence and confidential data.
April 6, 2025-April 12, 2025
The Chinese government responds to rising US tariffs with higher tariffs of its own, warning: “We don’t back down”; Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal loses another overseas non-permanent judge; leading members of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party confirm that Chinese officials ordered the party to dissolve; a Japanese legislative commission debates whether and how to address online disinformation and misinformation; South Korea’s acting president fills the Constitutional Court’s nine-member bench; partisan turmoil continues on the floor of the Taiwan legislature.
March 30, 2025-April 5, 2025
China responds to new US tariffs with reciprocal tariffs plus a wide array of sanctions and investigations against US companies; Hong Kong’s new police commissioner promises action against pockets of “soft resistance”; political parties in Japan negotiate changes to draft legislation on active cyberdefense in an effort to address privacy concerns; South Korea’s Constitutional Court unanimously upholds the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol; three staff members of Taiwan’s ruling three Democratic Progressive Party are being investigated on suspicion of spying for the Chinese Communist Party.
March 23, 2025-March 29, 2025
Chinese authorities release five Chinese employees of the American due diligence firm the Mintz Group after holding them for two years without trial; a Japanese court strips the Unification Church of its status as a religious organization; the clock is ticking in the impeachment trial of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol as the Constitutional Court continues its deliberations; Taiwan’s Executive Yuan approves a proposal to establish a Personal Data Protection Commission.
March 9, 2025-March 15, 2025
China calls for stronger legal measures against Taiwan independence; Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal makes plans to live-stream some hearings; Japan’s government considers moves to speed up criminal retrials to correct injustices; police in South Korea increase security measures in anticipation of a Constitutional Court ruling next week in the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol; Taiwan President Lai Ching-te proposes legal and economic measures to counter Chinese infiltration of Taiwan’s society.
March 2, 2025-March 8, 2025
China’s National People’s Congress opens its annual plenary session; Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeals overturns the convictions of three former organizers of the city’s annual Tiananmen vigil for refusing to provide information to police; a fourth Japanese high court rules that failure to legally recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional but denies damages to the plaintiffs; South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol leaves a detention center after 52 days of captivity but his impeachment and criminal trials continue; Taiwan authorities consider making it harder for emigres from Hong Kong and Macau to become eligible for permanent residency in Taiwan.
February 23, 2025-March 1, 2025
Western governments and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees condemn Thailand’s deportation of 40 Uyghur asylum seekers to China; a Hong Kong court convicts former lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting of rioting during the 2019 Yuen Long MTR incident and sentences him to 37 months in prison; a Tokyo court finds a former Chinese employee of Japan’s state-run research body guilty of giving confidential data to a Chinese company; South Korea’s Constitutional Court wraps up its hearings in the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol; a Taiwan court acquits a retired rear admiral and three other defendants of charges that they accepted money from China to develop spy networks in Taiwan.
February 16, 2025-February 22, 2025
A coordinated operation by the Thai, Chinese, and Myanmar governments achieves the release of hundreds of foreign nationals forced to work in telecoms fraud operations in Myanmar; Hong Kong’s Democratic Party studies measures to dissolve itself; a court in Japan convicts a would-be assassin of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and sentences him to ten years in prison; criminal proceedings begin against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol as he continues to battle impeachment; Taiwan praises and China condemns the US Department of State for removing a statement on its web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence.
February 9, 2025-February 15, 2025
China’s Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate issue new typical cases; the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association sues her former employer, the Wall Street Journal; President Donald Trump’s comments that Nippon Steel would invest in US Steel instead of pursuing a takeover reportedly took both companies by surprise; South Korea’s opposition-led National Assembly calls on Acting President Choi Sang-mok to completely fill the bench of the Constitutional Court as it hears the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol; Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature votes to impose new requirements to initiate the recall of elected officials.
