Volume 4, Number 9
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Legal Dialogue, Chinese Style

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. 

Volume 4, Number 8
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Feminization of Poverty and Women's Leadership

Poverty is often the face of a woman. Rangita de Silva de Alwis, a member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, hopes that this year’s meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women will help make women the face of anti-poverty solutions.

Volume 3, Number 24
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The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act: ...

Tamar Groswald Ozery argues that risks to investors may actually be worsened by US enforcement of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which was enacted in the name of investor protection. Ozery describes the HFCA as part of a geopolitical agenda of decoupling, but says it is backfiring by enhancing the Chinese government’s control over Chinese issuers.

Volume 3, Number 20
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The High Price of Lying in US-China Relations

Following the recent Chinese balloon incident, both Washington and Beijing would do well to recall lessons from a failed CIA espionage mission in China 70 years ago, says Jerome A. Cohen. US refusal to acknowledge the CIA’s role resulted in its own agent, John T. Downey, spending almost 21 years in a Chinese prison. The most obvious lesson: how counterproductive it is for governments to engage in lying.

Volume 3, Number 19
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The Future of CEDAW

Rangita de Silva de Alwis, who joined the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in January 2023, shares her vision for future development of the jurisprudence of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

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Manufactured Threat? Assessing Nippon Steel’s Plan to Buy U.S. Steel

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By Bruce Aronson

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.

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Legal Dialogue, Chinese Style

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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. 

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A Civil Society-Based Approach to Online Misinformation: The Experience of Taiwan

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Taiwan’s recent general elections were accompanied by extensive attacks of online misinformation designed to confuse and disrupt the process. Authors Wen-Chen Chang and Yu-teng Lin argue that Taiwan’s response to these attacks embodies “civic constitutionalism” in action, with civil society organizations taking the lead to identify and correct the misinformation while the government played a supporting role.

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Is Japan (Finally) Back?

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The Japanese stock market enjoyed an impressive rally this year, with the Nikkei 225 Index gaining well over 20% and achieving its highest level in three decades. Is Japan (finally) back? Bruce Aronson writes that a lasting recovery will depend upon how deeply corporate governance reforms have taken root and what policies have been adopted to counter the drag of an aging society.

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China's New Patriotic Education Law Shows the Degradation of Law

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China’s newly approved Patriotic Education Law offers a good illustration of what the ruling Communist Party means when it promises to “govern the country according to the law,” writes Ruiping Ye. It means giving policy documents the status of legislation. It is yet another manifestation of the integration of the Party and the state under the current Party leadership.

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CEDAW's Impact in East Asia: Part II

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The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been almost universally ratified, but there is a vigorous debate about its real-life impact in promoting gender equality. Carole J. Petersen assesses its impact in East Asia, a region that continues to be affected by Confucianism and entrenched gender hierarchies. This is Part II of her analysis.

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CEDAW's Impact in East Asia: Part I

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The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been almost universally ratified, but there is a vigorous debate about its real-life impact in promoting gender equality. Carole J. Petersen assesses its impact in East Asia, a region that continues to be affected by Confucianism and entrenched gender hierarchies.

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Hong Kong’s National Security Law Turns Three

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Hong Kong’s National Security Law came into effect three years ago this month. One of the Special Administrative Region’s leading legal scholars, Johannes Chan, takes stock of the law’s devastating impact on civil society, freedom of speech, and the legal system itself. He warns that the impending trial of former Apple Daily publisher Jimmy Lai will be a trial of the independence of the judiciary and the integrity of the legal system.

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The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act: Investor Protection or Geopolitics?

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Tamar Groswald Ozery argues that risks to investors may actually be worsened by US enforcement of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act, which was enacted in the name of investor protection. Ozery describes the HFCA as part of a geopolitical agenda of decoupling, but says it is backfiring by enhancing the Chinese government’s control over Chinese issuers.

,

The High Price of Lying in US-China Relations

,

Following the recent Chinese balloon incident, both Washington and Beijing would do well to recall lessons from a failed CIA espionage mission in China 70 years ago, says Jerome A. Cohen. US refusal to acknowledge the CIA’s role resulted in its own agent, John T. Downey, spending almost 21 years in a Chinese prison. The most obvious lesson: how counterproductive it is for governments to engage in lying.