LUO Shuxian

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I am an assistant professor (tenure-track) of International Affairs in Asia at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. I was formerly a Stanton Nuclear Security Junior Faculty Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Taiwan-U.S.-Europe Policy Program Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a non-resident China Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an assistant professor (tenure-track) at the U.S. Naval War College, a non-resident Hans J. Morgenthau Fellow at the Notre Dame International Security Center, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Brookings Institution, and an adjunct lecturer at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). 

My research interests include China's foreign and security policy, maritime security in Asia, U.S.-China relations especially crisis management, and China-Russia relations in both the Indo-Pacific and Eurasia. 

My first book, Simmering Seas: Escalation and Deescalation in China’s Maritime Disputes, is forthcoming with Oxford University Press (online release currently scheduled for September 2026, print release in November 2026). This project explains when, why, and how China escalates or deescalates incidents at sea arising from its maritime territorial and boundary disputes in the first two decades of the 21st century.

My second book project, tentatively titled Partners in Flux: China-Russia Relations Across Four Strategic Regions, develops a novel framework to assess patterns of China-Russia strategic interaction and alignment across four key theaters: Northeast Asia, Central Asia, Southeast-South Asia, and the Arctic. This project complements my maritime focus by pivoting to the continental domain and completes the arc of my research into China’s peripheral relations and security.

My other ongoing research projects look at China’s strategy toward North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in the post-Cold War era, cross-Taiwan Strait security, China’s geo-economic interests in the Arctic, and how great powers learn from crises and war.

I received my Ph.D. in International Relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS, and hold an M.A. in China Studies and International Economics with a minor in Japan Studies from SAIS, an M.A. in Political Science from Columbia University, and a B.A. in English Literature from Peking University. 

Before embarking on my academic journey, I had worked as a journalist in Los Angeles.