Description

The gulf between legal systems across the Taiwan Strait is far wider than a hundred miles. Last November, the Taiwanese human-rights activist Lee Ming-che was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in China for subverting state power. In Taiwan, the case was criticized as a violation of free expression. Lee’s case has heightened already strained cross-strait relations. It has also laid bare the increasing divergence between China and Taiwan with respect to protecting human rights. In three decades, Taiwan has transformed from martial law to a democracy incorporating international human rights norms. China simultaneously has not only remained under strict one-party rule but also seen a shrinking space for civil society. This talk will address what these trends mean for each side of the Strait as well as relations between Beijing and Taipei.

About The Speaker

Margaret Lewis is a Professor of Law at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, USA. Her research focuses on China’s and Taiwan’s legal systems, with an emphasis on criminal justice. Professor Lewis has been a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Public Intellectuals Program Fellow with the National Committee on United States-China Relations, and a Delegate to the U.S.-Japan Leadership Program. She is also a Non-Resident Affiliated Scholar of NYU School of Law’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute. She is spending the 2017-18 academic year as a Fulbright Scholar at National Taiwan University.