Xue Gong is a nonresident scholar at Carnegie China, Carnegie’s East Asia-based research center on contemporary China. She is also Assistant Professor and Deputy Coordinator of Master of Science in International Political Economy programme at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her current research interests include International Political Economy, China’s economic diplomacy, regionalism and governance, and geoeconomics in the Indo-Pacific.
Dr. Gong has contributed to leading peer-reviewed journals such as the World Development, International Affairs, the China Review, the Pacific Review, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Harvard Asia Quarterly. She has two co-edited books on the Belt and Road Initiatives and several book chapters on China’s economic statecraft, China’s corporate social responsibility and Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia. Dr. Gong has also produced various op-eds, policy and working papers for international think tanks and media outlets.
While China will remain a significant political and economic force in the Global South, its ambition to leverage the Global South as a counterbalance to the United States and the Global North is far from assured.
China’s role in the Mekong region demonstrates that development cooperation often requires closer security cooperation.
Carnegie China scholars share their assessment of the Biden-Xi meeting and its implications for U.S.-China relations going forward.
China hopes to use two big political events to try to boost public confidence in its sprawling plan.
Panelists will discuss how local players in three Southeast Asian countries—the Philippines, Malaysia, and Myanmar—pushed Chinese actors to adapt to local conditions.
Outside national capitals, Chinese players are engaging local actors, from mayors, to community groups, to faith-based organizations in dynamic ways. This, in turn, is both entrenching China’s influence and compelling Chinese actors to adapt to and meet local demands.
China has long been one of Myanmar's most significant economic partners, investing in infrastructure projects such as copper mining and energy. But how did the Myanmar coup in 2021 impact their bilateral relations? Xue Gong details the economic relationship between the two countries and how China's engagement with Myanmar has adapted to the country's new political reality.
Chinese economic players in Myanmar initially relied on ties to the government and ruling elites. Faced with controversy, they turned to actors that local communities trust and listen to as de facto partners and informal advisers.
