By Jerome A. Cohen
I am glad to see publication of this semi-memoir in the Virginia Journal of International Law Online, originally done for a stimulating conference reviewing the last forty years of China’s legal development convened by the University of Michigan last October. It addresses the present claim that those of us who responded to the PRC’s requests for help in reconstructing its legal system after the Cultural Revolution not only wasted our time but also helped build up a fearsome world power. I was also stung by the different claim that, in aiding China, I had become another instrument in the history of America’s legal imperialism. What puzzled me especially was that the able author of the latter claim, who previously visited my NYU office, never interviewed me or colleagues in our China effort. For some current histories the documents of the dead are insufficient. Please find the article here.