Dave Kang

I love it all. 😎⚽️

Thank you!

I'm actually quite proud of that analysis, and I stand by it. I'm not surprised that North Korea has survived as long as it has. And, I see little evidence now that KJU or NK is teetering on the brink...so our policies should reflect that...

I'm preparing to do a lecture tomorrow on why NK has survived...I found an article I wrote 31 years ago (Good grief I'm old), that I think stands up pretty well. "Rolling with the punches" was pretty accurate, I must say! www.jstor.org/stable/23254...

Happy Chuseok everyone!

Charlie Brown is 75 years old today!!!!

Trump 2.0 and Asia: An Asian Survey Special Issue This timely collection of articles brings together leading scholars to analyze the potential impact of Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency on Asian countries.

Noelle Troutman and I published a piece on US-DPRK relations in the latest issue of Asian Survey. TLDR: we are pessimistic!

All the articles are free for a limited time. Act fast! Supplies are limited! www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/t...

Thanks for having us -- it was a great conversation about an important topic.

What Does China Want? The Authors of a New Paper Challenge the DC Consensus This week on Sinica, I chat with Dave Kang (USC), Zenobia Chan (Georgetown), and Jackie Wong (American University in Sharjah, UAE) about their new paper in International Security titled "What Does Chi...

We also did a podcast with
@kaiserkuo.bsky.social
where we go into depth about our methods, other views, and extensions of our argument. Give it a listen!

www.sinicapodcast.com/p/what-does-...

What Does China Want? Abstract. The conventional wisdom is that China is a rising hegemon eager to replace the United States, dominate international institutions, and re-create the liberal international order in its own im...

This is a shorter piece that extends and builds off our deeply-researched, 16,000 word essay in International Security. We have much more to say than even we could fit in this longer piece, and we may have to write a book. (heh). Read this piece too!

direct.mit.edu/isec/article...

What China Doesn’t Want Beijing’s core aims are clear—and limited.

We're doubling down!

@zenobiachan.bsky.social and Jackie S.H. Wong and I argue that China is more status quo than revisionist, and more inwardly focused than externally oriented. Read this and decide for yourselves!

www.foreignaffairs.com/china/what-c...

What Does China Want? Join as we discuss China's true goals and motivations.

Zenobia Chan, Jackie Wong, and myself on "What does China want?" with the Quincy Institute. Looking forward to it!

quincyinst.org/events/what-...

Before he was a Senator, a candidate for President, and our greatest champion in the fight against oligarchy, Bernie Sanders was the four-term Mayor of Burlington, VT.

I sat down with Bernie in Astoria to talk about the lessons he learned—and the work ahead.

Lost in translation: why the West keeps misreading China Western governments have armies of Mandarin speakers and AI translators, yet they keep misreading Beijing. What’s missing, as Stefan Messingschlager argues, is independent, context-rich expertise – pe...

Good article.
theloop.ecpr.eu/lost-in-tran...

Pentagon plan prioritizes homeland over China threat This marks a major departure from the first Trump administration, which emphasized deterring Beijing.

Big if true.

www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

South Korea Raises Concern After U.S. Immigration Raid At Hyundai EV Battery Plant In Georgia U.S. immigration authorities detained around 450 people from a Hyundai EV battery plant in Georgia, including more than 300 South Korean nationals.

How to drive away foreign investment in the U.S.:
www.forbes.com/sites/siladi...

What Does China Want? Abstract. The conventional wisdom is that China is a rising hegemon eager to replace the United States, dominate international institutions, and re-create the liberal international order in its own im...

In case you are interested, here is a link to the original paper: We are so reasonable! direct.mit.edu/isec/article...

What Does China Want? The Authors of a New Paper Challenge the DC Consensus This week on Sinica, I chat with Dave Kang (USC), Zenobia Chan (Georgetown), and Jackie Wong (American University in Sharjah, UAE) about their new paper in International Security titled "What Does Chi...

New podcast from Sinica about "What Does China Want?" -- a great discussion that fleshes out our new paper challenging the DC consensus on a China threat. With @zenobiachan.bsky.social and Jackie Wong. @kaiserkuo.bsky.social Thanks for having us!

www.sinicapodcast.com/p/what-does-...

This is a link to the appendices from our recent IS article on "What Does China Want?" Some great data there for those interested!

dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtm...

Thank you! We are trying to help widen the discourse about China with careful empirics and clear theory.

While procrastinating on the insurance piece, I made the mistake of checking up on a few headlines I've seen recently about China's green tech manufacturing & exports.
Big mistake, huge etc.

Great research!

What Does China Want? Abstract. The conventional wisdom is that China is a rising hegemon eager to replace the United States, dominate international institutions, and re-create the liberal international order in its own im...

“What Does China Want?” by @daveckang.bsky.social, Jackie S. H. Wong, and @zenobiachan.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1162/ISEC...

This article is ungated thanks to @mitpress.bsky.social.

We wrote this piece to provide a rich empirical view of China's goals, and also as a sort of "primer" about how to contextualize and think about where China is today, where it came from, and where it is going. Central to that is outlining how to understand Chinese rhetoric...

laTiN amEriCA iS uNdErdeveLoPed beCaUsE it DOesN't hAVe sTrONg DEmocRaTic iNStiTUTioNs

International Security Summer 2025 issue preview: ISIS, what does China want? China on arms control, military primacy in Asia, limited war in East Asia

Summer 2025 issue preview: ISIS, what does China want? China on arms control, military primacy in Asia, limited war in East Asia @daveckang.bsky.social @zenobiachan.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social @belfercenter.bsky.social @dartmouthdickey.bsky.social @intsecurity.bsky.social

Coming soon! Sneak preview!!

Looking forward to this book coming out soon: we center the 20th century on Asian perspectives and examine how countries positioned themselves during key moments. Vol 2!! We may do a 3rd volume!!!

This is amazing from Tom. Great work.

YouTube video by SpinalTapVEVO Spinal Tap - Stonehenge ft. Elton John (Official Video)

This is awesome.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WWT...