Victor Cha

For more than two decades, Victor Cha has examined the forces shaping power in Asia. North Korea’s nuclear programme, the rise of China, the future of US alliances and the growing use of economic coercion as a tool of statecraft.

As President of the Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown University, Cha is one of the most influential voices on Asian security. Policymakers, business leaders and international audiences turn to his analysis to understand the strategic shifts redefining the Indo-Pacific.

Victor Cha previously served on the White House National Security Council and as Deputy Head of the US Delegation to the Six-Party Talks on North Korea. He later advised the US Secretary of Defense as a member of the Defense Policy Board during a period of intensifying competition between Washington, Beijing and Moscow.

What sets Cha apart is his willingness to challenge established thinking. Having helped shape US policy toward North Korea, he now argues that decades of denuclearisation-focused strategy failed to change Pyongyang’s behaviour. Instead, he calls for a more realistic approach that prioritises deterrence, risk reduction and long-term stability. The argument sparked debate across Washington, Seoul and Tokyo and forced policymakers to confront difficult questions about the future of security in Northeast Asia.

His work increasingly explores the intersection of economics and geopolitics. From China’s use of trade as leverage to the growing strategic importance of supply chains, technology and industrial policy, Cha examines how power operates in an era where economic dependence can create geopolitical vulnerability.

The author of numerous influential books, including The Impossible State, Powerplay, Korea co-authored with Ramon Pacheco Pardo and China’s Weaponisation of Trade, Cha combines policy experience with intellectual independence. His research helps audiences understand not only where Asia is heading, but which assumptions about power, security and order may no longer hold.