Chenghao Sun

Senior Fellow and head of the US-EU programme at the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University, Chenghao Sun studies the shifting balance between major powers and the future of the transatlantic alliance. His work focuses particularly on how China-US competition is reshaping the strategic choices of middle powers caught between economic interdependence and security dependence.

Rather than viewing geopolitics solely through Washington or Beijing, he pays close attention to the perspectives of third-party states navigating an increasingly fragmented international order. He has written extensively on the dilemmas facing middle powers as rivalry between China and the US spills into trade, technology and security. His analysis explores how countries seek to preserve strategic autonomy while avoiding pressure to choose sides.

Consequently, much of Sun’s work examines the future shape of international order itself. He is especially interested in whether the world is moving toward a more decentralised system of “multilateral polarity”, where influence is distributed across capable states and regional blocs rather than dominated by competing superpowers.

At Tsinghua University, Sun teaches graduate courses on transatlantic relations and international security. His research spans US domestic politics and foreign policy, China-US relations, Europe-China relations, artificial intelligence and security governance. At the same time, he closely tracks how political polarisation, populism and unilateralism inside the US increasingly shape the global system beyond America’s borders.

Beyond academia, Sun has built a substantial audience through his writing and digital platforms. He is the founder of ChinAffairs+, an independent newsletter and research platform launched during his time at Yale University. The platform introduces international audiences to debates taking place within China’s academic and policy communities. Through commentary and podcasts, it offers a rare window into contemporary Chinese strategic thinking beyond official narratives.

Chenghao Sun has co-authored dozens of books, reports and scholarly articles. His recent works include Profound Changes Unseen in a Century and the US-Europe Alliance and The Gravity of Power in the White House. Sun is a Munich Young Leader with the Munich Security Conference, a visiting scholar at Yale Law School and a fellow of the Arms Control Negotiation Academy. He has also served as a visiting fellow at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. In 2024 and 2025, he was named among China’s Top 1% Highly Cited Scholars by CNKI.