Last August, a group of youthful plaintiffs in South Korea unexpectedly won their lawsuit charging that the government’s official greenhouse gas reduction targets were unconstitutionally inadequate. It was the first victory outside Europe against a national climate target. Sejong Youn, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, writes that more wins may follow, as youths in Japan and Taiwan also have sued their respective governments this year. He says that courts are increasingly stepping forward to protect a vulnerable minority - future generations - from discrimination by an indifferent majority.
China’s Ban on Sexual Harassment: A Four-year Report Card
By Aaron Halegua and Yifu Dong
It has been nearly four years since China gave sexual harassment victims the explicit right to sue their harasser and began requiring employers to take “reasonable” measures to prevent and stop sexual harassment. Contrary to the early hopes of reformers, Aaron Halegua and Yifu Dong find that the impact on sexual harassment litigation so far has been limited. Relatively few victims seem to be bringing claims, damage awards generally remain low, and employers remain liability-free.
Why Blocking the Nippon Steel Deal May Seriously Harm US-Japan Relations
By Bruce Aronson
A December 18 deadline looms for the US government to decide if it will allow or block Japanese company Nippon Steel from buying once-mighty, now troubled U.S. Steel. Bruce Aronson writes that the Japanese government and business community are deeply concerned by the prospect of a rebuff on national security grounds. With the presidential election over, it’s time for Americans to focus on the possible harms to US-Japan relations and US outgoing investment if Washington blocks the deal.
Chinese Influence Operations Under International Law
In September, the federal court in Brooklyn unsealed an indictment against Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, for failing to register as a foreign agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party. Xuan W. Tay writes that while the art of influence is inseparable from the work of diplomacy, international law does not give PRC officials free rein to carry out influence operations inside other countries.
Manufactured Threat? Assessing Nippon Steel’s Plan to Buy U.S. Steel
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.
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.
Feminization of Poverty and Women's Leadership
A Civil Society-Based Approach to Online Misinformation: The Experience of Taiwan
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.
Is Japan (Finally) Back?
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.
China's New Patriotic Education Law Shows the Degradation of Law
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.
Picking Quarrels: The One Essential Charge in China
If China’s Criminal Code could contain only one crime, some Chinese judges, lawyers, and legal scholars say that the crime they would keep is “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” or 寻衅滋事. Luo Jiajun writes that it is no exaggeration to say that this charge could be brought against almost anyone living in China today.
New Directions for the Supreme People's Court?
CEDAW's Impact in East Asia: Part II
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.
CEDAW's Impact in East Asia: Part I
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.
Hong Kong’s National Security Law Turns Three
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.
The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act: Investor Protection or Geopolitics?
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.
A Long-Term Vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific
The Shared Challenge of Regulating Online Platforms
Concentrated Power
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.