Understanding China: Identities, Worldviews, and Strategic Ambitions in the Indo-Pacific

This talk addresses three fundamental questions about China in international relations: How does China see itself? How does China see the world? And what does China want in the Indo-Pacific? Drawing on major IR theories, the talk examines China’s multiple, and at times competing, identities and how these shape its perceptions of the international order and its foreign policy behavior in the Indo-Pacific. It argues that China’s identities are neither fixed nor monolithic, but are continuously contested and redefined through both domestic debates and external interactions. In this process, China is not only shaping the world but is also being shaped by it. Understanding this dynamic interplay is essential for making sense of China’s evolving role in regional and global politics.

Kai He is Professor of International Relations at the School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Australia, and concurrently serves as a Senior Research Fellow at the Toda Peace Institute in Tokyo. He previously served as a non-resident Senior Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace (2022–2023), an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow (2017–2020), and a postdoctoral fellow in the Princeton–Harvard China and the World Program (2009–2010). He is a co-editor of the Cambridge Elements in Indo-Pacific Security series, published by Cambridge University Press. He has authored or co-authored seven books and edited or co-edited eight volumes. His new books include The Upside of U.S.-Chinese Strategic Competition: Institutional Balancing and Order Transition in the Asia Pacific (co-authored with Huiyun Feng, Cambridge University Press, 2025) and International Organizations and Peaceful Change in World Politics (co-edited with T.V. Paul and Anders Wivel, Cambridge, 2025). He received the 2025 James Rosenau Award from the International Studies Association.

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