Yun Sun
Nonresident Fellow - Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative
Nonresident Fellow - Foreign Policy, John L. Thornton China Center
Yun Sun is a nonresident fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative and the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings. She also serves as co-director of the East Asia Program and director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations, and China's relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes.
From 2011 to early 2014, she was a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, appointed by the Foreign Policy Program and the Global Economy and Development Program, where she focused on Chinese national security decision-making processes and China-Africa relations. From 2008 to 2011, Yun Sun was the China Analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG) based in Beijing, specializing on China's policy towards conflict countries and the developing world. Prior to ICG, she worked on U.S.-Asia relations in Washington, D.C. Her work is regularly cited by Voice of America, Axios, and other prominent news outlets and publications.
Yun Sun earned her master's degree in international policy and practice from George Washington University, as well as an M.A. in Asia Pacific studies and a B.A. in international relations from Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.
Yun Sun is a nonresident fellow with the Africa Growth Initiative and the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings. She also serves as co-director of the East Asia Program and director of the China Program at the Stimson Center. Her expertise is in Chinese foreign policy, U.S.-China relations, and China’s relations with neighboring countries and authoritarian regimes.
From 2011 to early 2014, she was a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, appointed by the Foreign Policy Program and the Global Economy and Development Program, where she focused on Chinese national security decision-making processes and China-Africa relations. From 2008 to 2011, Yun Sun was the China Analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG) based in Beijing, specializing on China’s policy towards conflict countries and the developing world. Prior to ICG, she worked on U.S.-Asia relations in Washington, D.C. Her work is regularly cited by Voice of America, Axios, and other prominent news outlets and publications.
Yun Sun earned her master’s degree in international policy and practice from George Washington University, as well as an M.A. in Asia Pacific studies and a B.A. in international relations from Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.
If it appears that the U.S. punishes these countries and China does nothing, then no other countries in the future would have the same level of incentive to sever their diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
What the U.S. government has done [regarding surveillance] is intrinsically different from what Chinese entities have done. The U.S. government has been acting out of a defensive position; the Chinese engage for a very different perspective, either for commercial secrets or for data mining an interest that China is interested in.
In the past few years, there has been this sense that there was too much emphasis on large powers like the U.S. China sees this whole thing as a chess board. If they could consolidate relationships in Africa, Latin America and Central America, it will boost their standing in the world and give them more bargaining power.
Myanmar’s civil war: Military, political, and crime dynamics
Xi’s sweep: Beyond China’s 20th Party Congress
Taiwan’s economy during a time of global uncertainty
