GLAS & Long U.S.-China Institute | Maggie Lewis - Security, Law, and U.S.-China Relations: The Legacy of the China Initiative

The UC Irvine Law Center on Globalization, Law, and Society, and the UC Irvine Long U.S.-China Institute welcome Professor Maggie Lewis to discuss "Security, Law, and U.S.-China Relations: The Legacy of the China Initiative."

The China Initiative’s formal end in 2022 did not resolve the legal and policy questions it raised. This talk examines how China-related concerns became framed as problems of national, economic, and research security—and how those frames shaped criminal enforcement, university governance, and scientific collaboration. Drawing on the China Initiative and its aftermath, it asks how law and policy can address genuine risks with factual precision and appropriately tailored tools. The discussion situates current research-security debates within broader U.S.–China relations, asking how the United States can protect its security interests without compromising sound legal process, scientific openness, or the capacity to attract and retain talent.

About Maggie Lewis
Maggie Lewis is a professor at Seton Hall Law School whose work examines legal dynamics in the U.S.–Asia relationship, with a focus on China and Taiwan and an emphasis on criminal justice and human rights. She previously served as Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Institutional Operations. She has been a Fulbright Senior Scholar at National Taiwan University, a visiting researcher at Melbourne Law School’s Asian Law Centre, and a visiting professor at Academia Sinica. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of Directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, as well as on the advisory board of the National Science Foundation’s SECURE Center. She is also a nonresident affiliated scholar of New York University  School of Law’s U.S.-Asia Law Institute.

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