Promoting Rule of Law and Human Rights in Asia
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute serves as a bridge between Asia and America, fostering mutual understanding on legal issues, and using constructive engagement with our partners to advocate for legal reform.
New and Notable
Economic nationalism is one of the few things that can unite Democrats and Republicans these days. Politicians in both parties have spoken out against Nippon Steel’s planned purchase of former giant U.S. Steel. But does the transaction truly pose a threat to US interests? Is steel still a strategic industry or does it merely evoke nostalgia for an industrial past? What national security or economic interest is at stake? After all, Japan is our most important ally in the Asia-Pacific region. And what kind of reviews must be passed for the deal to go through? Bruce Aronson assesses the proposed transaction.
Legal scholars in China generally refrain from criticizing official policies in public. Qin (Sky) Ma writes that scholars’ response to the feared shutdown of the China Judgments Online (中国裁判文书网) at the end of 2023 was a noteworthy deviation from the norm. It showed that the space for critical discourse, though constrained, is not entirely closed and that strategic engagement by scholars can have impact.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces that it is awarding the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon to Frank K. Upham, the Wilf Family Professor of Property Law emeritus at NYU School of Law and co-founder of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute.
China’s success in cultivating Big Tech firms has enabled it to emerge as a formidable rival to the United States in the digital sphere. But in the past few years, the Chinese government has embarked on a massive regulatory crackdown, targeting its largest tech corporations such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Meituan. Many Western experts have viewed this tech crackdown as an assault on private businesses, causing doubt among investors about whether Chinese firms are still investable. Professor Angela Zhang will go beyond the headlines to unravel the dynamic complexity of China’s regulatory governance. Drawing insights from her newly published book, High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy, she will introduce the dynamic pyramid model of regulation, an analytical framework that demystifies Chinese regulatory governance. She will examine the impact of the tech crackdown on the administrative state, the competitive landscape, and global tech rivalry. And she will peer into the future by examining China’s strategy for regulating generative artificial intelligence.
Institute News
USALI Perspectives
Economic nationalism is one of the few things that can unite Democrats and Republicans these days. Politicians in both parties have spoken out against Nippon Steel’s planned purchase of former giant U.S. Steel. But does the transaction truly pose a threat to US interests? Is steel still a strategic industry or does it merely evoke nostalgia for an industrial past? What national security or economic interest is at stake? After all, Japan is our most important ally in the Asia-Pacific region. And what kind of reviews must be passed for the deal to go through? Bruce Aronson assesses the proposed transaction.
Legal scholars in China generally refrain from criticizing official policies in public. Qin (Sky) Ma writes that scholars’ response to the feared shutdown of the China Judgments Online (中国裁判文书网) at the end of 2023 was a noteworthy deviation from the norm. It showed that the space for critical discourse, though constrained, is not entirely closed and that strategic engagement by scholars can have impact.
China issues ethical guidelines for human genome research; the Wall Street Journal fires one of its Hong Kong-based reporters following her election to lead the Hong Kong Journalists Association; a married transgender woman in Japan challenges the law preventing her from legally changing her gender unless she divorces her wife; South Korea's Supreme Court rules that persons in same-sex relationships can register their partners as dependents in the national health insurance system; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court temporarily suspends controversial legal revisions that empower lawmakers to require government officials and citizens to testify at investigative hearings.
USALI research scholar Chi Yin appeared in a June 25, 2024 NPR Morning Edition report by Emily Feng about wrongful convictions in China and why it is so hard to overturn a wrong conviction.
U.S.-Asia Law Institute Research Scholar Chi Yin published an article, China's Non-Prosecution Mechanism: a Raft in China's Healthcare Anticorruption Campaign? in Thomson Reuters (Practical Law).
Program on International Law & Relations in Asia
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Program on International Law & Relations in Asia
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This Week in Asian Law (July 7-13): China’s Supreme People’s Court issues typical cases involving the interpretation and application of foreign law; the Hong Kong Court of Appeal allows a former radio presenter and democratic activist to appeal legal questions related to his sedition conviction; the Hiroshima High Court in Japan approves the legal gender change of a transgender woman even though she did not undergo gender confirmation surgery as currently required by law; the Seoul Metropolitan Government holds a forum on human rights abuses in North Korea in an effort to spur international cooperation to bring about change; a district court in Taiwan orders the detention of a prominent politician while he is investigated on suspicion of corruption.