This Week in Asian Law
AG
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

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

USALI and Asian American Scholar Forum Announce 2025 Fellowship Recipient

The U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI) at NYU School of Law and the Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) are pleased to announce the recipient of the 2025 USALI-AASF Fellowship. This joint program allows law students to engage in legal research and advocacy at the intersection of national security, science and technology, civil rights, and justice. 

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

NYU Shanghai, USALI Collaborate on Foreign-related Rule of Law

Leading legal scholars, practitioners, and policymakers gathered at NYU Shanghai for a Foreign-related Rule of Law Workshop that was co-hosted by the U.S.-Asia Law Institute (USALI). The workshop focused on current challenges and institutional innovations in the field of foreign-related rule of law, a broad category encompassing the full array of laws – both domestic and international – that govern China’s interaction with the world.  

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

March 16, 2025-March 22, 2025

Chinese Communist Party-run news media continue to denounce plans by a Hong Kong company to sell ports on either end of the Panama Canal, arguing that the canal is a Chinese national security interest; Hong Kong’s Legislative Council approves a cybersecurity law; the city of Tokyo prepares to implement Japan’s first ordinance aimed at curbing harassment of public-facing workers by irate customers; South Korea’s Constitutional Court says it will rule in the impeachment trial of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo next week; Taiwan’s executive puts forward another slate of nominees to fill the bench of its Constitutional Court.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.

This Week in Asian Law

This Week in Asian Law

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.