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.”
Senior Chinese officials say that pre-trial detention has dropped sharply; a Hong Kong court allows a veteran British lawyer to represent Jimmy Lai at his upcoming national security trial; Japan’s prime minister orders an investigation into the Unification Church; the Korean Bar Association fines nine lawyers for using an app to promote themselves; Interpol rejects observer status for Taiwan.
China’s legislature plans to review seven bills including revisions to the law on protecting women’s rights; Hong Kong puts its supplemental national security legislation on hold pending the upcoming Chinese Communist Party congress in Beijing; Tokyo begins to register same-sex couples; experts call on South Korea to revise a law that allows close relatives to commit property crimes with impunity; police in New Taipei City are accused of using excessive force in making an arrest.
The UN Human Rights Council declines to debate the human rights situation in China’s Xinjiang region; a Hong Kong man pleads guilty under the new anti-doxxing law; Japan’s Consumer Affairs Agency moves to restrict high-pressure solicitation of donations by religious organizations; South Korea gives refugee status to a couple threatened with honor killing in Pakistan; Taiwan advances judicial cooperation agreements with the Caribbean island nation Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
China abstains from a UN Security Council resolution condemning Russia’s annexation of parts of Ukraine; Hong Kong’s Cardinal Zen goes on criminal trial on charges of not properly registering a humanitarian relief fund; a court in Japan denies long-term residency to the American spouse in a same-sex marriage; South Korean prosecutors seek to arrest the former deputy secretary general of the main opposition party on corruption charges; Taiwan gives police more flexibility to discharge their firearms in the line of duty.
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute has an opening for a student research assistant to work under the joint supervision of USALI and the Asian American Scholars Forum. The RA will work to advance and protect the rights of Asian Americans and immigrants through policy and legal analysis and research at the intersections of national security, civil rights, and racial justice.
A Chinese court hands down suspended death sentences to a former justice minister and vice public security minister; police arrest the head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association for refusing to show police his ID; the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea discuss the dispute over compensation for Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II; South Korean authorities come under pressure to better protect women from stalkers after a murder; Taiwan’s judicial authorities prepare name lists of persons eligible to serve as citizen judges beginning in January.
USALI Faculty Director José E. Alvarez was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the oldest and most prestigious learned societies in the United States, on September 10, 2022. Professor Alvarez was elected in April 2021, but the ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
China releases draft revisions to its 2017 Cyber Security Law; Hong Kong requires new trade unions to pledge not to threaten national security; Japan acts to protect freelance workers; South Korea’s Constitutional Court reconsiders the constitutionality of the 1948 National Security Act; Taiwan seeks to bar persons who have committed sexual offenses against children from becoming citizens.
Human Rights Watch reports massive DNA collection in Tibet; five Hong Kong speech therapists are convicted under a sedition law for publishing a controversial set of children’s books; Japan’s Olympic Games bribery scandal widens; North Korea passes a law to harden its nuclear status; South Korean prosecutors bring charges against the main opposition party leader as his party pushes criminal investigations of the president and first lady; a court in Taiwan awards an elementary student state compensation for a school’s inappropriate punishment.
A UN report accuses China of human rights violations in Xinjiang; Hong Kong’s High Court says that press freedom does not protect Jimmy Lai’s smart phones from being searched by security authorities; Japan reiterates its call for a permanent African seat on the UN Security Council; a South Korean Supreme Court nominee comes out in favor of abolishing the death penalty; the Taiwan Innocence Project reports its 14th wrongful conviction exoneration.
The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities reviews China’s performance; six members of a Hong Kong student group plead guilty to charges of subverting the state; a Japanese high court rules that a trans women cannot be the legal parent of her biological child born after her transition; South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission finds past military governments responsible for torture, forced labor, and deaths at a state-funded “vagrants” facility; Taiwan’s Cabinet urges the legislature to relax rules governing police use of weapons.
A Shanghai court convicts one of China’s richest businessmen of financial crimes; 29 Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates are reported to be preparing to plead guilty to subversion for their roles in organizing an unofficial primary; Japanese prosecutors accuse a former senior member of the Tokyo Olympics committee of corruption; a South Korean court hears testimony from Vietnamese survivors of alleged South Korean military atrocities during the Vietnam War; Taiwan’s main political parties back a constitutional amendment to lower the voting age to 18.
A Beijing appeals court rejects the claims of a former broadcast intern in a high profile #MeToo case; Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai seeks judicial review to protect “journalistic materials“ on his phones; Japan for the first time grants refugee status to a Kurdish man with Turkish nationality; North Korea schedules a full session of its parliament for September; South Korea’s president pardons the Samsung heir for bribing a previous president; Taiwan raises the minimum wage for foreign domestic workers by 17% - still below the minimum for Taiwanese workers.
China prohibits discrimination against people who have been infected with Covid; Hong Kong’s High Court removes a ban on reporting on a national security case; Japanese lawyers say that denying a prison inmate access to glasses is a rights violation; South Korea’s government considers asking an international tribunal to stop Japan from discharging radioactive water into the ocean.
China’s procuratorate releases case statistics for the first six months of 2022; Hong Kong considers creating new cyber crime offenses; Japan considers allowing divorced couples joint custody of their children; human rights groups in South Korea criticize the 2019 deportation of two North Korean fishermen; a court in Taiwan again demands that civil authorities register the marriage of a same-sex couple even though the home country of one of the partners does not recognize gay marriage.
China’s highest court issues rules to make it easier for domestic violence victims to obtain personal security protective orders; the UN Human Rights Committee concludes its review of Hong Kong’s implementation of the ICCPR; Japanese health authorities seek to empower hotels to reject guests suspected of having Covid; a South Korean bishop calls for reinstatement of the country’s abortion ban, which was lifted only in 2021; a Taiwan court confirms the state’s ownership of two former presidents’ diaries.
