Speaker: Andrea Ghiselli, Assistant Professor, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

Moderator: Robert Ross, Professor of Political Science, Boston College; Fairbank Center Associate

The securitization of non-traditional security issues is a scarcely discussed and, yet, extremely powerful force that shapes the evolution of Chinese foreign and security policy. The lecture will show how this tortuous process deeply shaped China’s approach to the protection of the life and assets of Chinese nationals overseas, an aspect of Chinese foreign policy that is already and will become increasingly important over time. This became evident as, especially after the evacuation of 36,000 Chinese nationals from Libya in 2011, Chinese institutions evolved and issued new regulations that are also aimed at supporting the possible use of the military overseas.

Dr. Andrea Ghiselli is an assistant professor in the School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University. He is also the Head of Research of the ChinaMed Project, a research project on China’s role in the wider Mediterranean region sponsored by the University of Torino’s TOChina Hub. Andrea’s research interests include Chinese foreign policy, China-Middle East relations, and foreign policy analysis. Besides his book Protecting China’s Interests Overseas: Securitization and Foreign Policy published by Oxford University Press, his research on Chinese foreign policy has been published in peer-reviewed journals like the China Quarterly, the Journal of Strategic Studies, the Journal of Contemporary China, and Armed Forces & Society.