This Week in Asian Law
Yuan Gao
This Week in Asian Law

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.

NYU, NYU Law, Awards
Alexis Sanborn
Faculty Director José E. Alvarez elected to the ...

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.

Alexis Sanborn
ONLINE | Law, Justice and Human Rights in China ...

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.

USALI News, US-China Relations, Recent Events, NYU Law
Alexis Sanborn
Jerome A. Cohen receives an honorary degree ...

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.

China, US-China Relations
Guest User
“Was Helping China Build Its Post-1978 Legal ...

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.”

“Was Helping China Build Its Post-1978 Legal System a Mistake?”

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

February 2, 2025-February 8, 2025

China files a WTO complaint against the US in response to President Trump’s 10% tariff on Chinese imports; the long-running national security trial of former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai resumes after a lunar new year break with the prosecutor challenging Lai’s credibility; Japan’s National Police Agency says the number of reported crimes rose in 2024 due to increased investment fraud and social media scams but remains below historic highs; South Korea’s Constitutional Court schedules the start of its impeachment trial of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo; partisan groups in Taiwan submit petitions to launch recall campaigns against each other’s legislators.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

January 26 - February 1, 2025

The Chinese government says it is willing to accept its citizens if they are deported by the United States as long as their nationality is confirmed; Hong Kong officials condemn as political grandstanding the US House of Representatives’ re-introduction of a Hong Kong Sanctions Act; Japanese supporters of a female prosecutor who says she was raped by a senior prosecutor present a petition calling for an independent inquiry; South Korean prosecutors indict President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of leading an insurrection; Taiwan President Lai China-te sends a letter to Pope Francis.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

January 19-January 25

Chinese courts hand down death sentences to two men who separately carried out murderous attacks on Japanese residents in China; Hong Kong national security police question staff of the respected Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute in connection with the institute’s exiled former deputy; Japan’s government says that same-sex couples are covered by 24 laws normally reserved for legally recognized marriages; South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attends hearings in his impeachment trial before the Constitutional Court; Taiwan President Lai Ching-te reluctantly signs a controversial law that hobbles the Constitutional Court as his party seeks to have the law declared unconstitutional.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

January 12-January 18

China’s Supreme People’s Court interprets the marriage and family law in an effort to resolve contentious issues such as child custody; former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai appeals his 2022 fraud conviction; a Japanese district court orders the government to compensate a detainee for positioning a surveillance camera in his cell; South Korean investigators seek a court warrant to formally arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol; legislators from Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party petition the Constitutional Court to review controversial amendments that could paralyze the court itself.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

January 5-January 11

A Chinese court sentences the maker of a documentary film on the 2022 “white paper” protests; a Hong Kong appeals court hears arguments from former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China that they did not receive a fair trial; Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel sue the US government, the head of a rival steelmaker, and a union chief; South Korean law enforcement authorities meet to discuss making a second attempt to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol; 90 Taiwanese academics publish an open letter decrying the legislature’s passage of a controversial amendment to the Constitutional Court Procedures Act.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 29 - January 4

Chinese prosecutors press charges against 39 persons accused of running one of the largest telecom scam operations in the Myanmar-China border region; the president of Hong Kong’s legislature defends its record of green-lighting government proposals; Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp. reportedly prepares to file a lawsuit after US President Biden blocked its planned acquisition of U.S. Steel; South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, facing impeachment and possible criminal charges for declaring martial law, fights back with the support of loyalists in the security forces; a Taiwan court orders former Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je and three co-defendants in a corruption case to be returned to detention.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 22 - December 28

China’s legislature says it will rein in courts that are holding original shareholders liable for company debts even after transferring their shares; Hong Kong police add six names to a wanted list of exiled political activists; the upper house of Japan’s parliament approves restrictions on controversial political funds; South Korea’s National Assembly impeaches the acting president in a deepening political crisis; Taiwan’s legislature rejects all seven of President Lai Ching-te’s nominees for the Constitutional Court, effectively paralyzing the court.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 15 - December 21

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies that the government operates secret police stations abroad; Hong Kong’s chief executive supports using ballot boxes that will scan voters’ ballots in next year’s legislative election; Japan’s lower house agrees to abolish controversial policy activity funds that lawmakers can spend without disclosure; South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol defies summons from investigators seeking to question him about his attempt to impose martial law; Taiwan’s opposition parties pass controversial legislation to constrain the Constitutional Court, raise the threshold for recalls, and channel tax revenues to local governments.

Girding for 2025

As we reflect on developments in East Asia in 2024 through the lens of law and legal processes, one thing is clear: the United States in 2025 must pay more attention to the growing domestic political instability of its allies, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. South Korea’s brief flirtation with martial law grabbed attention, but it has suffered legislative logjam for months. So has Taiwan, and similar prospects loom for Japan.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 8 - December 14, 2024

China and the US renew the seminal US-China Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement; a Hong Kong court convicts a former Democratic Party lawmaker of rioting in 2020; a third Japanese high court rules that the country's lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional; South Korea’s National Assembly votes to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law; Taiwan’s Nationalist Party proposes steps to make it harder for Taiwan’s president to impose martial law.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

December 1 - December 7, 2024

TikTok’s CEO says he will appeal to the US Supreme Court to block his company’s ban in the US; a Hong Kong court retries a social worker accused of rioting for trying to liaise between protesters and police in 2019; tens of thousands of South Koreans protest outside the National Assembly, demanding the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he attempted to impose martial law; partisan scuffles again disrupt proceedings in Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan as the Democratic Progressive Party and Nationalist Party are unable to reach agreement across a host of issues

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 24, 2024-November 30, 2024

China releases three American prisoners in exchange for four Chinese citizens held in the US; Hong Kong’s apex court upholds lower court judgments recognizing public housing benefits and inheritance rights for same-sex married couples; the Japan Fair Trade Commission searches the offices of Amazon’s Japanese unit for alleged violations of the anti-monopoly law; a South Korean court clears the leader of the main opposition party of charges that he forced a witness to commit perjury; the Taiwan government expresses disappointment that member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting in Vancouver did not initiate Taiwan’s accession process.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 17, 2024-November 23, 2024

A Chinese transgender woman wins compensation from a hospital that subjected her to electroshock without her consent in an effort to “cure” her; Hong Kong’s High Court gives prison terms to 45 of the city’s leading pro-democracy politicians for holding an unauthorized primary election in 2020; a Japanese public interest litigation group challenges the power of judges to restrict the clothing that people wear in court; South Korea’s audit agency accuses former senior government officials of intentionally delaying deployment of a US advanced missile defense system; Taiwan’s finance minister promises lawmakers to look into ways of collecting income tax on profits from cryptocurrency trading.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 10, 2024-November 16, 2024

Chinese police detain a man who they say drove his car into a group of people exercising at a sports center, killing 35; a Hong Kong reporter files a wrongful dismissal claim against the Wall Street Journal for firing her weeks after her election as the leader of the city’s largest press group; a South Korean court convicts opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of making false statements during his presidential campaign and gives him a suspended prison sentence; Japan’s prime minister keeps his job and vows to crack down on misuse of political funds; lawyers in Taiwan protest against proposed legislation that could paralyze the Constitutional Court.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

November 3, 2024-November 9, 2024

China revises its Anti-Money Laundering Law to address new forms of money laundering; the Hong Kong Law Society sends warning letters to sixteen lawyers associated with a fund that supported legal aid for 2019 protesters; Japanese opposition parties agree that the law governing political funds needs revision but not how to revise it; South Korea' fines Meta $15 million for collecting and sensitive user data and sharing it with advertisers; Taiwan's Ministry of Justice withdraws a proposal to increase the fines for various abortion-related illegal acts following an outcry from women's rights groups.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

China announces policies intended to boost births; a Hong Kong court upholds a new rule blocking defendants in national security cases from calling overseas witness to testify virtually; a second Japanese high court rules that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional; a South Korean court orders the state to compensate the family of a murder victim because police failed to identify and punish his killer; a Taiwan court extends the detentions of Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je and other suspects in a high stakes bribery investigation.