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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
China launches an anti-trust investigation into the nation’s largest academic database; Tokyo municipality prepares to recognize same-sex partnerships; Hong Kong police arrest four prominent pro-democracy figures who were trustees of a fund that helped accused 2019 protesters; Taiwan’s legislature considers amending two laws to increase protection of businesses and key technologies from China.
China’s legislature releases its 2022 legislative plan; Japan’s Supreme Court plans to digitalize civil judicial procedures; South Korea’s departing president further strips prosecutors of investigation powers; Hong Kong’s global rank in press freedoms plummets; Taiwan announces its first national human rights action plan.
Chinese courts are ending the practice of “same life, different price”; the Hong Kong government acknowledges delays in handling cases related to the 2019 protests; an OECD working group expresses concern over the South Korean ruling party’s bid to strip prosecutors of investigatory powers; trade unions in Taiwan say employers should be held accountable for occupational injuries.
New Zealand’s Supreme Court greenlights the extradition of a permanent resident to China to face a murder charge; a Hong Kong veteran journalist is accused of conspiring to publish seditious materials; Japan expands the scope of rescue activities of its Self-Defense Forces; Taipei city councilors say the government gave recordings of residents’ hotline calls to a private software firm without their permission.
China increases judicial financial assistance to women in need and punishes local officials in Shaanxi for ignoring human trafficking; Hong Kong courts complete 80% of cases that have been brought to them in connection with the 2019 protest; Japan lowers the age of majority in the criminal justice system and promptly releases the name of a 19-year old suspect; Taiwan police prepare to enforce a new stalking law.
A retired Chinese Supreme People’s Court judge is under investigation; a Japanese court dismisses a lawsuit by ethnic Koreans and Japanese who say they were fraudulently lured to North Korea decades ago; Taiwan legislators approve lowering the voting age from 20 to 18, setting the stage for a public referendum.
China’s Supreme People’s Court releases typical cases involving the protection of minors; Hong Kong police warn the U.K. NGO Hong Kong Watch and its chief executive that they could be deemed in violation of the National Security Law; a senior economist at the OECD says it would be premature for South Korea’s president-elect to disband the Ministry of Gender Equality.
This week’s highlights include: China implements comprehensive revisions to its Administrative Penalties Law; Hong Kong police will be empowered to make arrests without warrants under a proposed new anti-doxxing law; Japanese prosecutors drop charges against 100 accused bribe recipients in a case involving the former justice minister; South Korea defends its Anti-Leafleting Law; Taiwan’s National Human Rights Commission releases its first report.
This week’s highlights include: Shenzhen promulgates China’s first comprehensive local-level data protection regulation; Hong Kong police arrest nine in alleged bomb plot; Japan’s #MeToo icon, journalist Shiori Ito, wins a defamation case against a former professor; South Korea’s government promises legal action against trade unionists who rallied for better work conditions despite pandemic restrictions; Taiwan lawmakers block efforts to allow absentee voting in referendums.
This week’s highlights include: China’s updated provisional sentencing guidelines take effect; a domestic worker in Hong Kong challenges the city’s response to human trafficking; France names a Japanese law professor a Knight of the French National Order of Merit; South Korea carries out a major reorganization of its police system; Taiwan legislators call for an absentee voting law.
This week’s highlights include: Shanghai’s Pudong New Area gains special legislative powers; a Hong Kong court opens the first trial under the National Security Law; Japan’s Supreme Court says that requiring married couples to register the same surname is constitutional; a South Korean court schedules a hearing date for the comfort women’s appeal; Taiwan denies that data from a COVID contact-tracing SMS service is being used in criminal investigations.
This week’s highlights include: China’s Supreme People’s Court issues Online Litigation Rules; Hong Kong police arrest five senior executives of a leading newspaper; two Americans plead guilty in Japan to helping Carlos Ghosn flee prosecution; South Korea’s governing party seeks to impose punitive damages for disinformation and misinformation; Taiwan tries to attract foreign professionals with tax breaks and other incentives.
This week’s highlights include: China passes an Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law; Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal will decide if the joint enterprise principle may be used to prosecute persons not present at a riot or unlawful assembly; a Japanese woman in a same-sex relationship sues to obtain spousal benefits; a South Korean court dismisses a lawsuit against Japanese companies over wartime forced labor; a Taiwanese student brings a claim against Norway at the European Court of Human Rights after Norway registered him as Chinese.
This week’s highlights include: laws mandating child safety seats, blocking software on computers used by children, and other protective measures take effect in China; Hong Kong police seal off Victoria Park to block an annual vigil for those killed in China on June 3-4, 1989; Japan’s Diet moves to do away with imprisonment with hard labor; South Korea appoints a new prosecutor-general; Taiwan formally decriminalizes adultery.
This week’s highlights include: China publishes the 2021 report on Rule of Law development; Hong Kong police ban a vigil commemorating the victims of June 4, 1989; the Tokyo High Court allows restrictions on a transgender official’s choice of restroom; the governor of Jeju Province discloses his cryptocurrency holdings; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court upholds a mandatory prison term for sellers of copyrighted DVDs.
This week’s highlights include: China tightens restrictions on private schools and requires them to pursue public welfare, not profit; an ordinance takes effect requiring Hong Kong public officers to take an oath to uphold the Basic Law; the Japanese government drops its plan to revise the immigration law after a Sri Lankan woman died in an immigration detention facility; the South Korean government considers allowing more foreigners to work as domestic workers; Taiwan’s president issues her first pardon to an indigenous Bunun man controversially convicted of weapons and poaching offenses.
This week’s highlights include: China proposes to tighten automobile data security; the Hong Kong government proposes to criminalize doxing; Japan’s amendment to its referendum law advances in the Diet; the South Korean government is criticized for asking Google to take down far more content than other governments; Taiwan’s Control Yuan urges action to curb human rights abuses on fishing vessels flying the Taiwan flag.
USALI’s weekly round-up of legal news from Asia. This week’s highlights include: China promulgates a law to punish restaurants and diners who waste food; Hong Kong’s executive researches a “fake news“ law; Japan’s Diet advances a bill that may make it easier to amend the Constitution; South Korea’s special corruption investigation agency releases controversial rules allowing it to preempt prosecutors; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court upholds most restrictions on indigenous hunting.
USALI’s weekly round-up of legal news from Asia. This week’s highlights include: China’s legislature amends the Food Safety Law, Advertising Law, and eight other laws; Hong Kong approves a controversial immigration bill that critics fear will give rise to ‘exit bans’; the head of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee joins an LGBTQ event and calls for an equality law; a South Korean ministry plans to allow children to take either of their parents’ surnames; Taiwan considers how to protect its fishing industry if Japan dumps radioactive waste water into the Pacific Ocean.
