22/08/2026
Declaration of the Institutional Independence and Future of ALSA Taiwan
When, in the development of an association founded upon cooperation among distinct legal communities, the position of one of its constituent members is placed in doubt by claims originating beyond the association, respect for the common order requires the member concerned to state the principles upon which its participation rests and the terms upon which equal cooperation may endure.
I.
We hold these principles to be fundamental:
That every community of law students capable of governing its own affairs is entitled to speak in its own name and through representatives of its own choosing;
That legitimate representation derives from the free authorization of those represented, and not from territorial claims, political doctrines, or authority asserted by another community;
That association among distinct members enlarges the sphere of common action without extinguishing the constituent identity of any member;
That equality within a constitutional order is incompatible with involuntary hierarchy, representation without consent, or the alteration of a member’s institutional identity through external pressure;
And that any fundamental change to the institutional position of a self-governing community must rest upon its own free and collective decision, expressed through lawful and democratic procedures.
II.
ALSA Taiwan is not an inchoate claim awaiting recognition by another Chapter.
It is an existing community of Taiwanese law students, organized through its own institutions, speaking through its own authorized representatives, and situated within the constitutional history of ALSA.
ALSA’s own records identify Taiwan and China separately among the participants in the formative process of the Association. Its governing instruments likewise recognize Taiwan separately as a Member within the common institutional order.
The distinct institutional position of ALSA Taiwan is therefore neither a concession made by another Chapter nor a temporary accommodation granted by political convenience.
It is an existing constitutional fact.
Its authority arises from two sources: from the Taiwanese law-student community that constitutes and sustains it, and from the common constitutional order through which ALSA recognizes and organizes the participation of its Members.
Neither source may be displaced by the unilateral assertion of an external authority.
III.
The constituent authority of ALSA Taiwan resides in the Taiwanese law-student community that constitutes and sustains it. Its institutional future therefore belongs, in the first instance, to that community.
Any proposal fundamentally to alter its name, status, representation, governance, or continued participation must therefore be submitted to the free and collective judgment of that community through its own democratic and constitutional institutions.
No state, government, or other National Chapter may claim the authority to determine that future on its behalf.
Nor may an administrative arrangement, adopted without the express participation and consent of ALSA Taiwan, silently settle a question that can legitimately be determined by a formal constitutional decision.
IV.
ALSA Taiwan affirms its institutional independence within the Asian Law Students’ Association.
By institutional independence, we mean the continuing capacity to govern our own internal affairs; to determine and authorize our own representatives; to participate under our established name; and to maintain our own relations with other National Chapters and legal communities.
It further means that Taiwanese law students must remain free to participate in academic and international activities without being placed under the authority of another National Chapter.
This is independence within ALSA, not independence from it: freedom from representation without consent, external control, and compulsory subordination.
We claim no exemption from the common constitutional order. We claim equality in its protection, interpretation, and application.
V.
The participation of Taiwanese law students in the international legal community is neither incidental nor derivative.
It is a natural expression of their capacity to study, deliberate, associate, and contribute as members of a distinct democratic legal community.
ALSA Taiwan shall therefore continue to secure and advance opportunities for the international participation of Taiwanese law students, to form relationships with legal communities throughout Asia and beyond, and to take part in academic and institutional exchange under its own name and through its own representatives.
International participation should not depend upon the willingness of another actor to tolerate our presence.
Nor should the political contestation of Taiwan’s status outside ALSA be allowed to silence Taiwanese law students within it.
An association dedicated to the diversity of Asian legal experience must remain open to the independent participation of the communities through which that diversity is expressed.
VI.
ALSA Taiwan does not oppose academic engagement with Chinese law students.
We seek a relationship founded upon dialogue, reciprocity, peace, and equality.
We welcome cooperation that advances knowledge, deepens mutual understanding, and enables law students from different constitutional and political environments to engage one another freely.
Such cooperation, however, must be reciprocal and non-discriminatory, voluntary rather than coercive, and equal rather than subordinate.
ALSA Taiwan and ALSA China may cooperate as distinct National Chapters within a common constitutional order.
Neither should be required to renounce its own institutions as the price of engaging with the other.
Neither should possess authority to determine the identity, representation, or internal governance of the other.
The purpose of dialogue is not to erase disagreement.
It is to make peaceful coexistence possible despite disagreement.
VII.
ALSA was established as an association for cooperation among diverse legal communities.
Its authority is legitimate only insofar as it remains faithful to the purposes for which the Association was constituted: equal participation, legal and academic exchange, social responsibility, and respect for the diversity of Asian legal experience.
When the domestic law or political position of one state is invoked within ALSA, the Association must distinguish between obligations binding particular participants and constitutional rules binding all Members.
A legal constraint faced by one Chapter may warrant due consideration in the practical conduct of the Association’s affairs.
Such a constraint does not, merely by being asserted, acquire authority to alter the institutional identity or legal position of another Chapter.
The Constitution of ALSA must not become an instrument through which external political claims are silently converted into internal hierarchy.
It must instead serve as the common legal order under which difference can be preserved without disorder, and cooperation maintained without domination.
VIII.
We therefore declare:
That ALSA Taiwan is a distinct, self-governing, and independently represented National Chapter within the Asian Law Students’ Association;
That ALSA Taiwan is not subordinate to, represented by, or incorporated within ALSA China;
That the institutional future of ALSA Taiwan must be determined by the Taiwanese law-student community through its own free, democratic, and constitutional processes;
That the establishment or re-establishment of another National Chapter shall not, in itself or through implication, administrative practice, or external pressure, diminish the name, status, representation, membership rights, or institutional identity of ALSA Taiwan. Any such alteration must be addressed as a separate constitutional question under the procedures of the Association;
And that ALSA Taiwan shall continue to pursue international participation and cooperation with all legal communities willing to engage with it on the basis of reciprocity, equality, and mutual respect.
IX.
We recognize that, if these principles are to endure beyond present assurances, they must also find expression in constitutional form.
We therefore call upon the competent bodies of ALSA to undertake such amendments to the Constitution as may be necessary to secure the equal standing, independent representation, and institutional autonomy of every National Chapter.
The precise form of those amendments should be developed through deliberation and consultation, and in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the Constitution.
No institutional peace can be stable if the continued existence of one member remains contingent upon the political acceptance of another.
The task of constitutional reform is therefore not to eliminate disagreement, but to establish a structure in which disagreement need not threaten the continued existence of any member.
X.
All legitimate association rests upon consent.
A common constitutional order’s claim to the fidelity of its members is therefore reciprocal: it endures only insofar as that order continues to secure their equal standing, self-government, and independent representation.
Whenever the institutions of an association cease to secure those ends and instead become destructive of them, the affected community has both the right and the responsibility, in the first instance, to seek constitutional correction through deliberation, amendment, and review.
Should ALSA, after those remedies have been pursued in good faith, persistently deny the equal standing of ALSA Taiwan, subject it to representation without consent, or make its continued participation conditional upon the surrender of its institutional identity, the basis of constitutional association would be fundamentally impaired.
In such circumstances, the Taiwanese law-student community retains the ultimate right to reconsider the terms of its association, including the right to withdraw from ALSA through its own free and democratic procedures and in accordance with the governing instruments applicable at that time.
No association may claim unconditional allegiance after abandoning the principles that make allegiance legitimate.
XI.
We seek the freedom to govern ourselves and to meet others as equals.
We seek to ensure that the opening of one door does not place another community under an authority it has never accepted.
ALSA Taiwan shall remain committed to the ideals of legal exchange, democratic self-government, academic freedom, human dignity, and the rule of law.
We shall continue to work with all Chapters and all law students who believe that international cooperation is strongest when it is founded upon consent, sustained by equality, and governed by law.
One constitutional order can accommodate many legal communities, provided that each is allowed to stand in its own name, speak through its own representatives, and determine its own future.
We, the representatives of ALSA Taiwan, bearing responsibility to the Taiwanese law students whom we represent, and faithful to the principles upon which equal association depends, solemnly affirm and declare the institutional independence, democratic self-government, and continuing international participation of ALSA Taiwan.
And in support of this Declaration, we mutually pledge to one another our names, the responsibilities entrusted to us, and our honour.
XII.
This Declaration is made in Chinese and English, both texts being equally authoritative.
In the event of any divergence in interpretation, both texts shall be construed in light of the object and purpose of this Declaration, particularly its commitment to institutional independence and self-government, equal representation, and voluntary cooperation. An interpretation shall be adopted that best reconciles and gives effect to both texts.
Adopted by the National Board of ALSA Taiwan
Declared at Taipei on 22 August 2026, in the 115th year of the Republic of China
For and on behalf of ALSA Taiwan
