Dissertation

Anti-Asian Racism and the Racial Politics of U.S.-China Relations

My dissertation examines the role of anti-Asian racism in shaping contemporary U.S.-China relations with a focus on cross-national public opinion. Building on theories of American racial hierarchy and Asian American politics, I first propose two new measures of anti-Asian racism in the United States, the Asian American resentment (AAR) and model minority stereotype (MMS) scales. Utilizing public opinion surveys, I then empirically assess the racialization of American opinion on China, finding that anti-Asian sentiments work as a powerful predictor of mass support for hawkish China policies. I then shift my focus to examining how growing anti-Asian racism shapes official foreign policy discourses in China, with far-reaching consequences on the rise of hawkish mass opinion within the rising great power. My dissertation contributes to advancing scholarly discussions on the increasingly salient yet overlooked racial dimension of contemporary Sino-American relations and the role of anti-Asian racism in shaping foreign policy preferences across the Pacific.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

“The Chinese Virus?: The Politicization of COVID-19 and the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in the United States,” Journal of Experimental Political Science. Conditionally Accepted.

“Race in International Relations: Beyond the ‘Norm Against Noticing‘,” Annual Review of Political Science 25: 175-96. 2022. (with Bianca Freeman and David A. Lake)

“The Geopolitical Consequences of COVID-19: Assessing Hawkish Mass Opinion in China,” Political Science Quarterly 136 (4): 641-65. 2021. (with Joshua Byun and Sichen Li)

Working Papers

“Anti-Asian Racial Resentment and the Racialization of American Public Opinion on China.”

“Yellow Peril or Model Minority? Janus-Faced Anti-Asian Racism in the United States,“ (with Enze Han)

“Anti-Asian Racism and Chinese Public Support for Hawkish Foreign Policies.”

“How Home Country and Host Society Identity Politics Conflict: Evidence from Asian Americans,” (with Jae Yeon Kim, Joan Cho, and Taeku Lee)

“Remember Kabul? Reputation, Strategic Contexts, and American Credibility after the Afghanistan Withdrawal,” (with Joshua Byun and Jiyoung Ko)

“Emotional Substrates of Hawkish Mass Opinion,” (with Joshua Byun and Nicholas Campbell-Serementis)

“Country Identification Strategy and the Use of Heuristics in IR Survey Experiments,” (with Alexandra Lange)