Not long after the United States restored diplomatic relations with post-Mao China in 1979, American lawyers began advising Chinese officials on how to build their legal system. In this webinar recorded on May 6, 2020, USALI’s founder and faculty director emeritus Jerome A. Cohen and his former law student, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations President Stephen A. Orlins, discuss whether this was a mistake. Professor Cohen and Mr. Orlins were among those early legal emissaries. They reflected on what their efforts achieved and failed to achieve, as well as what impact current U.S. government policies toward China may have on China’s continued legal development.
Jerome A. Cohen receives an honorary degree from Yale
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.
ChinaFile: How Will China Shape Global Governance?
Made in China: From Africa to Saipan: What Happens When Chinese Construction Firms ‘Go Global’?
For the past several years, I have been deeply engaged with a case involving the exploitation of thousands of Chinese workers by Chinese construction firms on the island of Saipan—part of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). This essay explores the extent to which Professor Ching Kwan Lee’s findings and conclusions about overseas Chinese construction firms, drawn from her fieldwork in Zambia (Lee 2017), are consistent with the events that transpired in Saipan. More specifically, the Saipan and Zambia cases are used to examine three issues: labour conditions at Chinese construction firms and the role that state- or private-ownership plays; the plight of Chinese migrant workers on these overseas projects; and, what avenues may be available for contesting such abuses.
Event Recording: Property Law as Housing Policy in Postwar Japan
Japan's welfare state has received much less attention than its industrial policy and rapid economic growth. In this talk, USALI visiting scholar Colin Jones argues that for decades Japan's welfare state was far more substantial than is commonly understood. He directs us to look beyond the familiar set of welfare institutions, as he traces the rise and fall of robust protections for renters that were structured into Japanese property law.
The China Collection: Taiwan and the World Health Assembly: The Politics of Invitation
Event Recording: Carlos Ghosn and Japan’s 99% Conviction Rate
SCMP: A decade after Chinese human rights lawyers Tang Jitian and Liu Wei were disbarred, much has changed – for the worse
The Diplomat: Trump Is Right That the WHO Has a China Problem. Cutting Funding Isn’t the Answer.
The Diplomat: Wang Quanzhang and China’s ‘Non-Release Release’
“Was Helping China Build Its Post-1978 Legal System a Mistake?”
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.”
SCMP: China should not use the coronavirus as an excuse to silence human rights activists like Wang Quanzhang
[Event Recap & Videos] Preventing Miscarriages of Justice in Asia
![[Event Recap & Videos] Preventing Miscarriages of Justice in Asia](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/55d21ffee4b0d22e803fdca1/1586463384478-ENEPAM1QO46DNAIGMIAW/Eli.JPG)
On April 1, 2020. Senior Research Fellow Ira Belkin and USALI staff Allen Clayton-Greene, Amy Gao, Yin Chi, and Eli Blood-Patterson introduce the U.S.-Asia Law Institute's (USALI) program: "Preventing and Redressing Wrongful Convictions." Through this program, international experts, including individuals who themselves had been wrongfully convicted and later exonerated, shared their experience and state-of-the-art expertise with the Asian criminal justice community concerning the root causes of wrongful convictions and measures that can be adopted to prevent them and redress them.
CFR Publication: Why Does the WHO Exclude Taiwan?
Carlos Ghosn and Japan’s ‘99% Conviction Rate’
USALI Affiliated Scholar Bruce Aronson’s article on Japan’s criminal justice system was featured in The Diplomat. This article examines Japan’s criminal justice system from a comparative perspective and reveals the nuance behind an often-cited statistic.
USALI Updates Regarding COVID-19
In accordance with NYU policy concerning COVID-19 health precautions, the U.S.-Asia Law Institute is canceling or postponing our normally scheduled Asia Law Weekly lunch talks, visiting scholar presentations and other public activities through March 27th. We will announce the status of programs scheduled for later dates as the situation evolves. We appreciate your understanding.
Affiliated Scholar Yu-Jie Chen Quoted in BBC Article
Beijing News: It is imperative to lower pretrial detention rates and expand the implementation of non-incarceration measures.
BJNews (Reporter: Wang Jun) Unnecessary detention has long been a problem in judicial practice in China. Zhang Jun, the Chief Prosecutor of the People’s Procuratorate (the SPP), during an address to the national chief prosecutors conference today (January 18, 2020), said that the rates of arrest and pretrial detention must be further decreased, and that it is imperative to expand implementation of non-incarceration measures.
U.S.-Asia Law Institute Leadership Change
2020 Summer Internships at the U.S.-Asia Law Institute
Every summer, USALI seeks several interns from NYU Law School and other law schools to join our vibrant community and support the legal research of the Institute. We look for candidates who have excellent research and writing ability, demonstrated capacity to contribute to team projects, the ability to work independently, and with a genuine interest in the legal, social, and political challenges of Asia. We also welcome candidates with language ability in any of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, or Korean to apply.