The Taiwan Question: Cross-Strait Relations and U.S. Policy Past, Present, and Future

Brian C. Chao is an assistant professor in the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval War College, a non-resident associate of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania, and a research fellow with the Modern War Institute at the United States Military Academy. His research focuses on great-power politics and China’s rise, naval power and geostrategy, and US Asia-Pacific defense and foreign policies. Brian’s research on Taiwan has been published in the China Brief; Security, Development and Sustainability in Asia; and Territory, Politics, Governance. He has examined how cross-Taiwan Strait relations have affected the China Seas territorial and maritime rights disputes, how both China and Taiwan have used their South China Sea claims to build new political identities, and how the Taiwanese military’s political-commissar system has evolved. Brian teaches an elective course on Taiwan at the College. Additional publications appear in International Relations of the Asia-Pacific and Navies in Multipolar Worlds: From the Age of Sail to the Present (Routledge), as well as The Diplomat, the East Asia Forum, and The National Interest, among others.

Brian holds an AM and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, an AB in Government from Dartmouth College, and certificates in Mandarin Chinese from Peking, Tsinghua, and the National Taiwan Universities. More information can be found on Brian’s website and Twitter.

Dr. Chao will speak for about 45 minutes, followed by a Q & A with questions submitted by attendees.

The 2022-2023 Newport Lecture Series is generously underwritten by the Estate of Trustee Emerita Barbara and Mr. Herbert Epstein.