The 2020-21 Wilson China Fellowship: Essays on the Rise of China and Its Implications


In recent years, the rise of China has transformed the international system, and the downturn in U.S.-China relations increases tensions across a range of issues, from Taiwan to the South China Sea to human rights. Addressing these issues and crafting tailored policy responses will require nuanced and informed analysis of China from the U.S. academic community. With the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Wilson Center aims to bridge the gap between academia and policy by bringing together a cohort of rising scholars focused on China to undertake crucial, year-long research projects on China in our Wilson China Fellowship. The results of our first cohort's work are featured in this publication: The 2020-21 Wilson China Fellowship: Essays on the Rise of China and Its Implications.
From the South China Sea to the situation in Xinjiang, our 2020-21 Fellows explore a range of topics addressing the breadth and width of China policy. With accompanying essays by Stephen Del Rosso, Abraham M. Denmark, and Robert Daly, the Wilson China Fellowship essays and their policy recommendations come at a crucial time when the rise of China and its implications for the United States and globe increasingly dominates the foreign policy debate in Washington.
We hope that you find them as enlightening and informative as we do.

Wilson China Fellowship Conference 2021
Watch the scholars present their research at the Wilson China Fellowship Conference in February, 2021.
Watch NowContributors

Darren Byler
Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Asian Studies, University of Colorado Boulder

Sara Castro
Assistant Professor, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Department of History

Christopher Colley
Assistant Professor of Security Studies at the National Defense College of the United Arab Emirates

Rush Doshi
Fellow and Director of the Brookings China Strategy Initiative and Fellow at Yale’s Paul Tsai China Center.

Alexander Dukalskis
Associate Professor, the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin

Sheena Chestnut Greitens
Associate Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas at Austin.

Isaac Kardon
Assistant Professor, Department of Strategic and Operational Research at the U.S. Naval War College

Lami Kim
Assistant Professor at the U.S. Army War College and Adjunct Fellow at Pacific Forum.

Wendy Leutert
GLP-Ming Z. Mei Chair of Chinese Economics and Trade, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies and the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Indiana University.

Jessica Liao
Assistant Professor of Political Science, North Carolina State University.

Adam P. Liff
Associate Professor of East Asian International Relations, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, Indiana University and Director of the “21st Century Japan Politics & Society Initiative” (21JPSI).

Xiao Liu
Assistant Professor at McGill University and Fellow at the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution of the World Economic Forum.

Oriana Skylar Mastro
Center Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI)

Joshua Shifrinson
Assistant Professor of International Relations, Pardee School of Global Studies, Boston University

Cecilia Han Springer
Dinah Shi

Robert Daly
Stephen Del Rosso

Abraham Denmark
Asia Program
The Asia Program promotes policy debate and intellectual discussions on U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific as well as political, economic, security, and social issues relating to the world’s most populous and economically dynamic region. Read more
Kissinger Institute on China and the United States
The Kissinger Institute works to ensure that China policy serves American long-term interests and is founded in understanding of historical and cultural factors in bilateral relations and in accurate assessment of the aspirations of China’s government and people. Read more