Geopolitics, International Order and Global Governance, China’s Relations with Neighboring Countries, Politics in East Asia and Southeast Asia
Huang, Qingming. 2026. North Korea and South Korea: Monopolizing Nationalism in a Divided Peninsula. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Decades after the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the resilience of communist regimes in East Asia still puzzles scholars. As one of the most intriguing cases, North Korea is often described as “strange”, “impossible”, or “unconventional”. Without far-reaching economic reforms as in China and Vietnam, North Korea manages to survive in changing international environments. In contrast, the post-war autocratic regimes in South Korea failed to avoid regime collapse. This book project seeks to answer: Why did North Korea and South Korea diverge on the path of regime development? What contributed to North Korean regime’s resilience but was missing in the successive autocratic regimes in South Korea?
The post-war regimes in the Korean Peninsula all tried to monopolize the narratives of nationalism but differed in the outcomes. North Korea not only managed to eliminate the competing versions of nationalism and visions for the nation, but also continued to promote and reproduce the ruling leader’s version of nationalism through textbooks, mass education, and literacy campaigns. The North Korean regime’s monopoly of nationalism helped it construct the founding myth of the party-state as an essential source of regime legitimacy. As a result, the regime was able to navigate through crises and the founding myth continued to channel strength to the party. In contrast, the autocratic regimes in South Korea failed to eliminate the competing narratives about the nation and were unable to monopolize nationalism through textbooks, mass education, and literacy campaigns. As a result, they failed to construct a founding myth to buttress the regimes and became more vulnerable to domestic challenges.
Huang, Qingming, and Tao Lin. 2025. Remapping Our Lives: Reviving Communities, Landmarks, and Countryside around the World [in Chinese]. Taipei: Showwe Publisher.
This book documents the cases of community building we have researched on during the past decade. Most of them are from the United States and South Korea but we also include cases that we think are equally meaningful. Among these cases, some have already built strong foundations through their practices, while others are still in the early stage of exploring and developing. Despite their differences in the dynamics of government-society interactions, the dominant theme is the community residents' imagination and pursuit for a better life. No matter new or old, the best is what you create.
Huang, Qingming. 2025. “The Founding Myth of Party-State and Regime Resilience in Vietnam.” Problems of Post-Communism 72, No. 6: 597–610.
This paper examines the factors behind Vietnam’s regime resilience with a focus on the regime’s founding myth at the early stage of regime foundation and the relations between political elites and emerging economic elites during regime adaptation. It argues that the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) successfully constructed a founding myth of the party-state to legitimize its rule among the populace. Moreover, institutional adaptation during the process of achieving modernization allowed the VCP to forge interdependence between political elites and emerging economic elites, securing the latter’s support for the regime. The regime’s success in these endeavors channeled strength to the party and helped it survive challenges.
Lee, Myungho, and Qingming Huang. 2023. “Authoritarian States’ Dilemma with Knowledge-Generating Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT [in Korean].” Monthly SW-Oriented Society (Software Policy & Research Institute), Vol. 106 (April): 96-105.
OpenAI에서 개발한 챗GPT의 이용자가 급속히 확산되면서 다양한 반응이 나오고 있다. 일차적인 반응은 프롬프트(질문)에 대해 상당히 잘 정리된 답변을 내놓고 있다는 것이다. 앞에 Chat(대화)이라는 단어가 붙어서 가볍게 대화하는 인공지능 프로그램으로 생각했던 사람들은 챗GPT의 다양한 능력에 놀랐다. 검색 엔진을 사용할 때와 같이 궁금한 사항에 대해 질문하면 백과사전같이 정리된 문장으로 답변을 해주고, 특정 주제에 대해 에세이를 써 달라고 하면 장문의 에세이를 써주고 있다. 코딩까지 하는 능력을 보여주면서 사람들은 일반 인공지능의 등장이 가까워지고 있다는 기대를 갖게 됐다.
이에 따라 다양한 반응이 나타났다. 당장 학생들의 글쓰기, 에세이 숙제를 대신해줄 수 있다는 문제가 제기됐다. 학생들이 숙제나 공부를 하는데 챗GPT 사용을 금지해야 한다는 입장과 챗GPT도 계산기와 같은 발전된 도구의 일종으로 허용해야 한다는 입장이 대립했다. 챗GPT로 작성한 글을 판별하는 인공지능 프로그램도 등장했다. 학자와 전문가들의 챗GPT 사용이 늘어나면서 챗GPT를 저자로 올린 논문이 제출되자 네이처와 사이언스 등의 학술지는 챗GPT의 저자 등재를 금지했다.
일부 권위주의 국가에서는 챗GPT를 국가 차원에서 사용 금지시켰다. 현재 러시아, 중국, 이란, 이집트 등의 정부는 언론 통제의 연장에서 챗GPT 사용을 막고 있다. 언론 통제가 강한 사회주의 및 권위주의 국가들은 챗GPT를 Google Search와 같은 정보 검색 도구로 여기고 사용 금지하고 있다. 이유로는 챗GPT의 답변 내용에 정권 비판적인 내용이 포함돼 있다는 점 등을 들고 있다.
이러한 문제들이 제기되면서도 챗GPT 사용자는 계속 늘어 2달 만에 1억 명에 달했고, 유료 서비스로 전환한 회원들도 백만 명을 넘어섰다. 순식간에 보고서의 초안을 작성하고, 아이디어를 얻고, 자료를 정리하는데 쓸 만하다는 반응이 사무직 종사자를 비롯해 전문가들 사이에 퍼져나갔다. 챗GPT 사용자들은 검색의 용도보다는 지식 생성, 지식 작업을 도와주는 도구로 여기고 있다.
이 글에서는 이와 같이 다양한 반응을 일으키고 있는 챗GPT로 대표되는 언어 생성형 인공지능에 대한 비판을 검토하고 권위주의 국가, 특히 중국, 베트남에서의 챗GPT에 대한 정책을 살펴보고자 한다. 특히 챗GPT가 검색 도구보다는 지적 생산성을 도와주는 지식 도구라는 관점에서 살펴보고자 한다.
Huang, Qingming. 2022. “Founding Myth, Institutional Adaptation, and Regime Resilience in China.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 55, Issue 4 (December): 105-126.
To explain the factors behind the regime resilience in China, this paper focuses on the foundational and institutional resources that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accumulated in the earlier stages of regime development and their lasting influence on regime trajectory. At the stage of regime foundation, the CCP successfully constructed the founding myth of the party-state as the foundational resources to legitimize its rule. At the later stage of regime adaptation, institutional adaptation during the process of achieving modernization allowed the CCP to accumulate substantial institutional resources to further buttress the regime. While negotiating the space between state and society, the CCP regime demonstrated high capacity in granting more autonomy to market actors to accelerate growth while increasing the embeddedness of economic strata in the system through informal and formal institutional arrangements. When confronted with a serious crisis, the CCP was able to draw strength from the foundational and institutional resources to survive. This paper argues that the CCP’s efforts in accumulating strength at the early stages of regime development continue to exert strong influence on China’s regime trajectory at later stages.
Huang, Qingming. 2021. “The Pandemic and the Transformation of Liberal International Order.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 26, No. 1 (March): 1-26.
In 2018, 43 leading International Relations scholars in the United States signed a public statement in support of an urgent call to preserve the current international order, triggering heated scholarly debates. The idealized form of the liberal international order was criticized by many scholars for its chronic problems, including the contradictions between proclaimed liberal values and illiberal behaviors, the inability to reform its institutional pillars to accommodate the diverse group of emerging powers, and the tensions between the defenders of this order and its challengers. These problems became fully exposed under the external shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic. As the coronavirus spreads globally and disrupts the world’s political, economic, and social fabric, several forces that have gained momentum and strength during the last decade are now converging as a formidable force that may reconfigure the post-pandemic international order. This paper addresses three significant challenges to the foundations of the current liberal order: (1) the entrenchment of authoritarianism, characterized by authoritarian resilience, autocratization, and the consolidation of competing authoritarian political-economic models; (2) the exacerbation of nationalism enabled by nationalist and populist politicians; and (3) the intensified competition among major powers. China has played mixed roles in the process of reconfiguring the current order. It challenges the mythologized liberal international order and exposes the contradictions in the dominant Western model, while promoting an alternative hybrid political-economic model. The shock brought by the pandemic has provided ample opportunities for China to extend its networks and expand international space for its model.
Huang, Qingming. 2023. “Book Review: Zero Tolerance: Repression and Political Violence on China’s New Silk Road.” Perspectives on Politics 21, Issue 3 (September): 1118-1119.
“Assessing China’s Influence in Central and Eastern Europe: Political Trend, Economic Engagement, and Policy Compliance with China,” with Hye Ryeon Jang.
“Reconstruction of History at Heritage Sites in Vietnam: From the Perspectives of South Korea and France,” with Shengxi Zeng.
“Narratives about China and the East Asian Regional Order: Evidence from South Korea’s History Textbooks,” with Junseok Lee.
“Inclusion, Othering, and Hierarchy: Imagining the Identity of Korean Chinese in South Korea,” with Jeeye Song.
Visiting Scholar, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University (December 1, 2024, to June 15, 2025)
Junior Fellow, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University (March 1, 2022, to August 31, 2023).
Special Researcher, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University (August 1, 2021, to February 28, 2022).
Research Assistant, Department of Political Science, University of Florida (Spring 2020).
Fieldwork in Seoul, South Korea (2021-2022, 2024-2025), and Xinjiang, China (2016).
“The Politics of Feng Shui in South Korea (in Chinese).” Yusiwujie, January 16, 2025.
“South Korea’s New Digital Nomad Visa and its Rush to Compete for Global Digital Talents (in Chinese).” Digital Economy Think Tank Review, March 22, 2024.
“Reciprocal Migration between Quanzhou, a Hometown of Overseas Chinese, and Southeast Asia (in Chinese).” Southern Weekly, February 27, 2024.
“Indonesian Government Pressures TikTok Again, Adding Uncertainty in Cross-Border E-Commerce (in Chinese).” Digital Economy Think Tank Review, February 23, 2024.
"How China Misunderstands Vietnam (in Chinese)." Greater Bay Area Review, September 5, 2023.
"China and South Korea's Battle over Entry Restriction: Why does South Korea Change its Positions? (in Chinese)." Tide News, February 22, 2023.
"Data Compliance and Risk of ChatGPT and Other AI Tools: A Case in South Korea (in Chinese)." Greater Bay Area Review, February 20, 2023 (with Chuanman You).
"China and South Korea at Crossroads after 30 Years of Diplomatic Ties (in Chinese)." Tianmu Media, August 24, 2022.