China Institute

Professor Steve Tsang

Key information

Roles
China Institute Director, SOAS China Institute
Department
China Institute
Qualifications
MA, DPhil (Oxon)
Building
Paul Webley Wing (Senate House)
Office
S132
Telephone number
+44(0)20 7898 4222

Biography

Steve is the Director of the SOAS China Institute. Before taking on his current position in 2016, he was the Head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham, and before that a Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford. He is also an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony’s College.

He is a frequent commentator for the BBC, including for programmes like Newsnight, Ten o’clock News, BBC News Channel, Today, World at One, PM, BBC World Service's various programmes such as Newshour and World Tonight. He has also appeared on Sky News, Channel 4 News, Channel 5 News, Voice of America, France 24, Channel News Asia, CNBC, Al Jazeera and various podcast series.

He has also testified at various select committees of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Canadian House of Commons.

Research interests

Chinese politics; nature of political system in China; the Chinese Communist Party and democracy; human rights in China; Chinese foreign policy; China's soft power; China-UK relations; China-EU relations; China-US relations; China-Taiwan relations; China-Asia relations; China's rising military might; Twentieth-century Chinese history; Taiwan politics; Taiwan's external relations; Taiwan's democratisation; Taiwan's security; US-Taiwan relations; Hong Kong politics; Hong Kong's relations with mainland China; and colonial history of Hong Kong.

Current Research and major publication projects

  • The Political Thought of Xi Jinping (with Olivia Cheung)
  • China’s global strategy under Xi Jinping (with Olivia Cheung, supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation)
  • Ordinary man, extraordinary life: a biography of Chiang Kai-shek

PhD Supervision

Name Title
Tommy Chung Yin Kwan Fail to Re-connect: The Alienated Relationship Between Democratic Progressive Party and the Sunflower Movement
Ruiqi Liu An Analytical Framework for Understanding China's Foreign Policy Making: The Interaction of Internal and External Factors
Milia Purppura UK-PRC Relations
Raymond Tam Radio Television Hong Kong, 1971-1997: The Case Study of Public Service Broadcasting and Press Freedom in the Late-colonial Hong Kong
Raymond Tam Radio Television Hong Kong, 1971-1997: The Case Study of Public Service Broadcasting and Press Freedom in the Late-colonial Hong Kong

Publications