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
This Week in Asian Law (April 21-27): China’s legislature approves a Tariff Law that reiterates China’s right to retaliate if other countries impose tariffs on Chinese goods; seven defendants go on trial in Hong Kong on charges of plotting a terrorist attack during the 2019 protests; four persons who say they were harmed by fraudulent investment ads sue Facebook Japan; South Korea’s Constitutional Court strikes down an inheritance rule that has guaranteed siblings of the diseased a minimum share of the estate; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court hears oral arguments about the constitutionality of the death penalty.
The institute offers one currently enrolled NYU Law student the opportunity to work with the Asian American Scholars Forum, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, to advance and protect the rights of Asian Americans and immigrants through policy and legal analysis and research at the intersections of national security, civil rights, and racial justice. The student will have the status of a Research Assistant and will work under the joint supervision of USALI Executive Director Katherine Wilhelm and Asian American Scholars Forum Executive Director Gisela Perez Kusakawa, an experienced civil rights lawyer. Applications are open until May 25, 2024. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis so please apply as early as possible.
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.
Materials from China’s Xinjiang region, including cotton and polysilicon, permeate global supply chains. All products made with such materials are presumptively banned from the United States under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which took effect almost two years ago. Ned Levin, an attorney who has investigated forced labor in China and represents Uyghur asylum seekers in the United States, will explain how the UFLPA came about, how it works, the steps the US government has taken to enforce this massive and unprecedented new mandate, and reactions from companies and trade groups. He will also discuss his work with Uyghur asylum seekers, the challenges they face, and the importance of granting Uyghurs safe haven.
Institute News
USALI Perspectives
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.
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.
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 legislature approves a Tariff Law that reiterates China’s right to retaliate if other countries impose tariffs on Chinese goods; seven defendants go on trial in Hong Kong on charges of plotting a terrorist attack during the 2019 protests; four persons who say they were harmed by fraudulent investment ads sue Facebook Japan; South Korea’s Constitutional Court strikes down an inheritance rule that has guaranteed siblings of the diseased a minimum share of the estate; Taiwan’s Constitutional Court hears oral arguments about the constitutionality of the death penalty.
The Chinese government orders Apple to remove WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China; a Hong Kong judge agrees to hear arguments about the constitutionality of new restrictions on journalists accessing the government’s vehicles registry; a Japanese court rejects the claim by death row inmates that same-day notification of execution is unconstitutional; South Korea's government offers to compromise on the pace of increasing medical school admissions in order to end a two-month doctors' strike; Taiwan’s Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-khim expresses confidence that Taiwan will soon achieve 50 percent female representation in its legislature.
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.