*Please note that this event has been rescheduled. We will update the information as soon as a new date is set.
We continue our speaker series about Taiwan’s status in the world with a look at its relationship with the European Union. None of the EU’s twenty-seven member states has diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but nineteen member states and the EU itself have opened quasi-embassies there and the EU holds a ministerial-level trade and investment dialogue with its government. In recent years, as tensions with China have heightened over trade disputes and the war in Ukraine, the EU Parliament has increasingly emphasized Taiwan’s shared democratic values and their similar experiences living with a powerful, authoritarian neighbor. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, a scholar who divides her time between Brussels and Taiwan, will unpack the drivers and limitations of Europe’s affinity for Taiwan..
Religious communities in China are under intense pressure, from administrative restrictions and church closures to criminal prosecutions of pastors and believers. Xiao Yunyang, a human rights lawyer from Guizhou, China, will provide an overview of government policies and regulations toward unregistered religious groups over time, from the relatively more relaxed Hu-Wen era in the early 2000s to the zero-tolerance approach of Xi Jinping. Drawing on over two decades of firsthand experience representing religious practitioners in administrative, civil, and criminal proceedings, he will discuss how authorities often frame religious cases as ordinary criminal offenses, what defense strategies are available, and what lawyers and communities can realistically do within China's current legal framework.
We find ourselves at a remarkable moment in global environmental governance. China actively supports green development on the global stage, while the US under the Trump administration rejects the Paris Agreement and actively opposes the development of renewable energy and electric vehicles. Professor Alex Wang of the UCLA School of Law will introduce his new book, Chinese Global Environmentalism, which examines how China came to embrace green development and how it promotes a developmental form of environmentalism that differs from Western conceptions.
The Teaching and Researching International Law in Asia (TRILA) programme, based at the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore, builds on a decades-long tradition of advancing and enhancing the teaching and researching of international law in Asia. More than the strengthening and fostering of teaching and research cultures, TRILA also aims to cultivate a vibrant community of international law scholars across the Asian region. Tony Anghie, the head of TRILA will reflect on the evolution and impact of TRILA and explore the changing landscape of legal academia in Asia. The conversation will situate TRILA within the broader Global South and international efforts to rethink the teaching of international law and the role of Asian scholars in changing and reshaping international law.
Twelve months ago, President Donald Trump declared “liberation day” and launched a tariff war against the entire world, including key American trade partners in East Asia. Over succeeding months, additional tariffs were announced, modified, and withdrawn against countries and specific goods, such as steel and aluminum. Henry Gao, law professor at Singapore Management University and a trade expert, will take stock of the lasting impact of Trump’s weaponization of tariffs on East Asia and the global trading system. He also will ask whether the tariff war could bring a silver lining: the opportunity to finally address long-festering problems with the old trade system.
Timothy A. Gelatt Dialogue on the Rule of Law in East Asia
