How Experts Shape Chinese Foreign Policy
From Pekingology by Center for Strategic and International Studies
January 22, 2026 · 32 min
About this episode
The episode explores how experts influence Chinese foreign policy and the role of think tanks in shaping national security concepts.
In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Sabine Mokry, Postdoctoral Researcher with the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg and author of the new book Chinese Scholars and Think Tanks’ Construction of China's National Interest. Sabine unpacks the process through which outside expertise can shape the Party’s national security concepts, the relevance of Chinese think tanks and scholars in policymaking, and how China – nearly a thousand miles from the Arctic – became a “near-Arctic State.”
People in this episode
Host: Henrietta Levin
Guest: Sabine Mokry
Topics covered
- Chinese foreign policy
- national security
- think tanks
- policymaking
- Arctic relations
Keywords
- Chinese foreign policy
- national security
- think tanks
- Sabine Mokry
- Henrietta Levin
- Arctic State
- policymaking
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, University of Hamburg
Books & works: Chinese Scholars and Think Tanks’ Construction of China's National Interest
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