Professor Gerald Chan

Biography

Gerald Chan is Professor of Politics and International Relations in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Auckland. He obtained his PhD in Chinese politics and history at Griffith University in Australia and his MA in International Relations at the University of Kent, U.K. Gerald has taught international relations and Asian politics for 15 years at Victoria University of Wellington. He has held visiting or short-term positions in many universities, including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Cambridge University, the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Kobe-Gakuin University in Japan. He is a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge. He has been an external examiner to the politics and public administration programme at the University of Hong Kong. He has also held the position of an external PhD examiner in the area of Chinese international relations at the University of Malaya. He sits on the international editorial / advisory board of many academic journals, including Global Society, the Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, the Journal of Human Security, and the International Journal of China Studies. Before he joined Auckland in 2009, he was Professor of East Asian Politics and Director of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies at Durham University, U.K.

Gerald's key research area is Chinese international relations. He has published a number of books and many articles in this area. He is currently working on several projects relating to China’s New Silk Road plan; the social evolution of Chinese politics; China's ability to create norms and rules that could change the behaviour of other states; and China's role in global financial governance.

Gerald’s recent publications include “China eyes ASEAN: evolving multilateralism,” Journal of Asian Security and International Relations, 2015; “For better, for worse: China embraces global poverty reduction,” Bandung Journal of the Global South, 2015; “China’s economic power and the global financial structure,” Harvard Asia Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2014, pp. 13-18; “Capturing China’s international identity: social evolution and its missing links,” Chinese Journal of International Politics, Volume 7, No. 2, 2014, pp. 261-81; “China and small states in food security governance,” African and Asian Studies, Vol. 13, Issues 1 & 2, 2014, pp. 59-79.

Two of Gerald's co-authored articles won the Best Essay of the Year award: one entitled “Rethinking global governance: a China model in the making?” in Contemporary Politics, 2008; and the other entitled “Japan, the West and the whaling issue,” in Japan Forum, 2005.

Gerald is currently working on a project on China’s ‘one belt, one road’ initiative and China’s high-speed rail diplomacy. He has published a working paper in this area and has given a TEDx talk on ‘Can China connect the world by high-speed rail?'

More information on Professor Gerald Chan can be found here.