Bruce Aronson, senior advisor at the USALI Japan Center, tells Japan’s Sentaku Magazine that he sees the US government decision to block Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel as part of a wider global trend of expanding “national security” to include any “national interest.”
NYU Law Celebrates Professor Jerome Cohen's Memoirs
USALI in the News: Affiliate Aaron Halegua on Chinese workers in Brazil
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
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.
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
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
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.
Authoritarianism and International Law: The Case of the Uyghur Homeland
Join the Law Students for Human Rights for a discussion with Rayhan Asat and Kenneth Roth about China’s reshaping of international law to achieve its authoritarian agenda via a case study of the Uyghur homeland.
Japan Honors Professor Frank K. Upham
Japanese Ambassador Mikio Mori bestowed the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, upon Professor Frank K. Upham for significantly promoting the understanding of Japanese law in US academia and building networks among global legal communities. The award is one of the highest honors that the government of Japan confers upon foreign nationals.
USALI's Bruce Aronson quoted by Japan Times
USALI Research Scholar Chi Yin on NPR
This Week in Asian Law
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.
This Week in Asian Law
The UN Human Rights Council approves China’s Universal Periodic Review report but Western governments express frustration; a Hong Kong court continues holding pre-sentencing hearings for the 45 democratic politicians and activists who were convicted or pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit subversion; Japan’s Supreme Court declares the former Eugenics Protection Law unconstitutional and orders the government to compensate plaintiffs who were forcibly sterilized; a South Korean court gives a 15-year prison term to the man who stabbed opposition leader Lee Jae-myung in the neck during a campaign event; Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang Party says mainland Chinese contractors should be allowed to carry out government-funded infrastructure projects on Taiwan’s outlying islands.
This Week in Asian Law
China’s Communist Party strips the last two defense ministers of party membership for accepting bribes and other corrupt behavior; the Chinese legislature drops a proposal to punish wearing clothing that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people; Hong Kong police charge a man with sedition for writing graffiti on seat backs in public buses; Japan charges two US Air Force servicemen with sexual assault in separate incidents; South Korea’s Constitutional Court throws out a law that automatically pardons property crimes against immediate family members; Taiwan President Lai Ching-te petitions the Constitutional Court to review controversial legislation passed by the opposition that gives the Legislative Yuan new powers to investigate the executive branch. Read more.
Japanese Government Honors Professor Frank K. Upham
Celebrating 25 Years of Japanese Public Interest Lawyers at NYU
The U.S.-Asia Law Institute and Japanese Federation of Bar Associations celebrate 25 years of bringing Japanese public interest lawyers to NYU as visiting scholars. The program has “deepened our international sophistication beyond transactional law to include comparative perspectives on public interest lawyering,” says NYU Law Professor Emeritus Frank Upham.
This Week in Asian Law
China sanctions a US research company and two analysts for reporting about human rights abuses in Xinjiang; Hong Kong prosecutors open the trial of former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai by accusing him of using the newspaper to “promote hatred” of Chinese and Hong Kong authorities; the Tokyo High Court relieves the government of legal liability to evacuees from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown; the head of South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party is recovering after being stabbed in the neck at a political event; Taiwan considers joining the International Criminal Court.