About Us
China Focus is the student publication of the 21st Century China Center at UC San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy. We aim to provide the context and originality needed for an informed discussion on China and its global impact.
Editorial Team
Anna Kraemer
Editor in Chief
Anna is a Master of International Affairs student at UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, specializing in China and International Economics. She graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a bachelor’s degree in political science concentrating in global politics. Her research interests include political communication, US-China affairs, and international trade.
Ruishi Wang
Co-Editor in Chief
Ruishi is a second-year MCEPA student with a concentration in Chinese Economics at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. Prior to GPS, she worked as a research assistant at Tsinghua University focusing on the evolution of the AI industry in China. She also worked as a documentary journalist at CCTV, where she primarily covered the topic of technology strategies of Chinese SOE. She obtained her bachelor’s degree from Liaoning University in journalism in 2014.
Zizan Wang
Digital Media Manager
Zizan is a Master of International Affairs student at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego. He graduated from UC San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science focusing on International Relations. His research interests include Chinese political economy, Chinese foreign policy, and US-China relations.
Duong Pham
Editor
Duong Pham (they/them) is a Ph.D. student at the Department of Political Science, University of California, San Diego. Their research interests revolve around the intersection of comparative politics, international relations and sociology, covering a wide range of topics including authoritarian politics, digital politics, cyberspace and influences of social media on international relations, national identity, nationalism as well as cyber-nationalism, China’s national image in foreign discourses, Sino – Vietnam relations, and South China Sea dispute. Their website is duongtpham.com.
Yixiao Huang
Editor
Yixiao is a Master of Chinese Economic and Political Affairs student at the University of California, San Diego. He graduated from Nankai University with a joint major in German Literature and Finance. Upon graduation, he intends to pursue a career in the environmental sector. He is also a dedicated supporter of environmental movements and campaigns as well as other green activities across the globe.
Mark Etem
Editor
Mark is a Master of Advanced Studies in International Affairs student at UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, specializing in China and International Relations. He graduated from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in strategic design and management. His research interests include US-China Affairs, US Politics and Latin America.
Alayna Bone
Editor
Alayna Bone is a second-year MIA student at UCSD’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, and is specializing in China and International Economics. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University-Idaho where she studied Public Policy and Mandarin. Her research interests include cross-Strait relations, Taiwan’s domestic affairs, international tech politics, and Christianity in East Asia.
Michelle Lai
Writer
Michelle is a first-year MCEPA student at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. She graduated from the University of Washington in 2020 with a double major in International Studies and Asian Studies. Her research interests include US-Chinese relations, Chinese international economics, and China’s international public image.
Jonathan Elkobi
Writer
Jonathan is a first-year Master in Chinese Economics and Political Affairs student at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. His research interests lie in between China’s Financial System, Political Economy, environment, and state-of-the-art computational methodology. He obtained His joint bachelor’s degree from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Business and China Studies in 2022.
Li Qi
Writer
Qi is a Master of International Affairs student at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego. She specializes in China and International Environmental Governance. She graduated from UC Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in Social Science. Her research interests include the development of new economy in China, Chinese energy policies, and environmental policies.
Jinwei Xu (Bruce)
Writer
Jinwei is a Master of International Affairs student at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, UC San Diego. He graduated from UC San Diego with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology of International Study. His research interests include Chinese and South East Asia politics, Chinese foreign policy, and US-China relations.
Tini Lan
Writer
Tini is a first-year MIA student at the School of Global Policy and Strategy, focusing on China and International Economics. Before GPS, he obtained his bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics in data journalism. Meanwhile worked as a research assistant studying the cultural industry in the Yangzi River Delta, especially tax policies about up-downstream in the film industry.
Nima Nouri-esfandiari
Writer
Nima is a first-year student at UCSD’s Global Policy and Strategy Program specializing in China and Southeast Asia. He’s interested in researching geopolitics, national security, domestic trade policy, and the economic development of Pacific Rim countries.
Board of Advisors
China Focus is affiliated with the 21st Century China Center, a think tank housed at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. The center’s scholars are among the world’s leading experts on China and U.S.-China relations, and they provide invaluable guidance to our editorial team.
Susan Shirk
Chair, 21st Century China Program; Research Professor, GPS
Susan Shirk is a research professor and chair of the 21st Century China Center at GPS. She is one of the most influential experts working on U.S.-China relations and Chinese politics. Shirk’s book “China: Fragile Superpower” helped frame the policy debate on China in the U.S. and other countries. Her articles have appeared in leading academic publications in the fields of political science, international relations and China studies, and her views on a range of issues relating to modern Chinese politics are highly sought. She previously served as deputy assistant secretary of state (1997-2000), responsible for U.S. policy toward China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia and she founded and continues to lead the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, an unofficial forum for discussions of security issues.
Victor Shih
Professor of Political Economy; Ho Miu Lam Chair in China and Pacific Relations
Victor Shih, a scholar of the political economy of China, holds a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University. He has published widely on the politics of Chinese banking policies, fiscal policies and exchange rates and is a leading expert on Chinese local government debt. Shih previously worked as a principal for the Carlyle Group in its hedge fund arm in New York City. He is currently engaged in a study of how the coalition-formation strategies of the founding leaders had a profound impact on the evolution of the Chinese Communist Party. He is also constructing a large database on biographical information of elites in China to better understand the importance of networks in political decision-making.
Barry Naughton
Professor of Chinese Economy; Sokwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs
Barry Naughton is the Sokwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs at the School. He is one of the world’s most highly respected economists working on China. He is an authority on the Chinese economy with an emphasis on issues relating to industry, trade, finance and China’s transition to a market economy. His recent research focuses on regional economic growth in China and its relationship to foreign trade and investment. He has addressed economic reform in Chinese cities, trade and trade disputes between China and the United States and economic interactions among China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Lei Guang
Director, 21st Century China Program, GPS, UC San Diego
Lei Guang’s research focuses on state-society relations and development politics. He has studied migration, informal sector workers and political discourses in China and is currently working on projects that seek to understand the causes of social conflict in China and responses by the grassroots state. His scholarly publications have appeared in numerous edited volumes and in refereed journals, and he is an editorial board member of two leading academic journals on China: China Quarterly and The China Journal.
Harris Doshay
Assistant Director, 21st Century China Program, GPS, UC San Diego
Harris Doshay serves as assistant director of research and writing in the 21st Century China Center at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. Doshay earned his Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University. His dissertation, based on a year of ethnographic field work in Chinese churches, focused on China’s official Protestant Church and the ways in which individual believers experienced cooptation. Work stemming from this project has been published in Comparative Politics. He also taught writing and research skills in Princeton’s writing program.
