Dr. Zhang Hongzhou’s main research interests include regional and global resource conflicts and governance, the role of Big Tech in international politics, and the governance of emerging technologies such as AI and biotechnology. He is the author/editor of three books and has published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including The China Quarterly, Policy and Society, Journal of Contemporary China, Global Food Security, Digital Government: Research and Practice, WIREs Water, Pacific Review, Marine Policy, Water International, Global Policy, Asia Policy, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Globalizations, China Review, and International Journal of Water Resources Development, among others.

Beyond academia, he has contributed Op-Eds to major newspapers and magazines across the Asia-Pacific, including The National Interest, South China Morning Post, Interpreter, East Asia Forum, Straits Times, YaleGlobal Online, The Diplomat, ChinaDialogue, AsiaGlobal Online, ThinkChina, Today, New Security Beat, Lianhe Zaobao, The Nation, The Jakarta Post, IPP Review, All China Review, Fair Observer, and RSIS Commentary.

His insights are frequently featured in global media outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, Science, The Economist, National Geographic, WIRED, Reuters, Channel News Asia, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, CNBC, Forbes, People’s Daily, The Straits Times, and South China Morning Post.

• Resource (food, water, fisheries) conflicts and environmental governance
• Emerging technologies, AI and Biotechnology
• Big Tech and International Political Economy
• Central-local relations in China
• Ideas and discourse in shaping resource governance and economic integration

Member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Water Resources Development

Member of and guest editor for the Chinese Society of Foreign Agricultural Economy

Served as Reviewer for Journals including Nature, Nature Food, China Quarterly, GeoForum, East Asia Quarterly, Pacific Review, Policy and Society, International Politics, Water Alternatives,  Issues and Studies, International Journal of Water Resources Development,  European Journal of International Relations, One Earth,  Asian Politics & Policy, Food Security,国际政治研究, 南洋问题研究, China: An International Journal, Marine Policy, and Water Alternatives. 

Guest Editor for a special issue with the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Guest Editor for a Special Issue with the Marine Policy

IDSS Papers

• IP23032 | China’s Agricultural Power Strategy: What Is It All About?

  29 March, 2023

• IP22030 | Challenges to Safeguarding China's Food Security

  21 April, 2022

Working Papers

• WP282 | China’s Global Agricultural Strategy: An Open System to Safeguard the Country’s Food Security

  28 October, 2014

• WP246 | China’s Evolving Fishing Industry: Implications for Regional and Global Maritime Security

  16 August, 2012

• WP240 | China’s Economic Restructuring: Role of Agriculture

  21 May, 2012

Policy Reports

• Averting Asia’s Fishing Crisis: China’s Fishing Policies Need to Be Reformed

  02 June, 2015

• Building the Silk Road Economic Belt: Problems and Priorities in Central Asia

  18 May, 2015

RSIS Commentary Series

• China-US Tech War: The Impact on Global Food Security

  25 April, 2023

• CO18046 | Managing Fisheries in Troubled Waters: Can An SCS Body Work?

  19 March, 2018

• CO16152 | Chinese Fishermen at Frontline of Maritime Disputes: An Alternative Explanation

  21 June, 2016

• CO16126 | Food Security in China: Whither the Self-sufficiency Policy?

  26 May, 2016

• CO16026 | North Korea’s Nuclear Tests: Threat to China’s Food Security?

  03 February, 2016

• CO15192 | Indonesia’s War on Illegal Fishing: Impact on China

  09 September, 2015

• CO15099 | China’s Silk Road Economic Belt: Geopolitical Challenges in Central Asia

  24 April, 2015

• CO15015 | China-India Water Disputes: Two Major Misperceptions Revisited

  19 January, 2015

• CO14167 | China’s Proposed Silk Road: Problems and Priorities in Central Asia

  20 August, 2014

• CO14152 | China’s Global Resources Drive: A market-oriented strategy for food

  31 July, 2014

• CO14057 | Confronting China’s Water Insecurity

  27 March, 2014

• CO14023 | China is Marching West for Food

  04 February, 2014

• CO13166 | China as the World's Largest Rice Importer: Regional Implications

  12 September, 2013

• CO13154 | Advancing Sino-US Relations: Putting Agriculture First

  19 August, 2013

• CO13050 | Restructuring China's Maritime Law Enforcement:Impact on Regional Security

  01 April, 2013

• CO13045 | China's Food Security: From Self-Sufficiency to a Dual Strategy

  14 March, 2013

• CO13028 | Behind China's "Grain Miracle": More than Meets the Eye?

  13 February, 2013

• CO12213 | China’s Food Security: Sourcing from the Seas

  29 November, 2012

• CO12091 | China’s Growing Fishing Industry and Regional Maritime Security

  05 June, 2012

• CO12075 | Feeding the Asian: Agricultural R&D and Food Security

  03 May, 2012

• CO12032 | China’s Food Security: Threats from Conflicts of Interest

  22 February, 2012

• CO11182 | China’s Food Conundrum: Insecurity of the Rural Abandoned

  12 December, 2011

• CO11146 | China’s High Speed Rail System: Impact on Food Security

  13 October, 2011

• CO11071 | China’s Food Security: Questioning the Numbers

  04 May, 2011

• CO11007 | China and Global Food Security: Conflicting Notions

  27 January, 2011

Authored Books

• Securing the ‘Rice Bowl’: China and Global Food Security. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Journal Articles

• “Building an AI ecosystem in a small nation: lessons from Singapore’s journey to the forefront of AI” (with Shaleen Khanal, and Araz Taeihagh) in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 2024
• “Public-Private Powerplays in Generative AI Era: Balancing Big Tech Regulation Amidst Global AI Race” (with Shaleen Khanal, and Araz Taeihagh) in Digital Government: Research and Practice, 2024
• “Why and how is the power of Big Tech increasing in the policy process? An explanation using Generative AI as a focusing event in the multiple streams framework” (with Shaleen Khanal,, and Araz Taeihagh) in Policy and Society , 2024
• “Development of New Generation of Artificial Intelligence in China: When Beijing’s Global Ambitions Meet Local Realities” (with Shaleen Khanal, and Araz Taeihagh) in Journal of Contemporary China , 2024
• “The South China Sea fishing crisis: the overlooked role of Chinese subnational governments” in The Pacific Review, 2024
• “To Win the Great AI Race, China Turns to Southeast Asia” (with Shaleen Khanal) in The Asia Policy, 2024
• “Ten Years of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Bibliometric Review” (with Shaleen Khanal) in Journal of Chinese Political Science , 2023
• “Central-Local Relations in China: A Case study of Heilongjiang’s GMO Ban” (with Alfred Wu) in China Quarterly , 2023
• “Policies and Politics: Effects on US-China Soybean Trade” (with Cecilia Tortajada) in Georgetown Journal of International Affair, 2022
• “Water Diplomacy and China’s Bid for Soft Power in the Mekong” (with Zhang Li) in China Review, 21, 4, 2021. 39-75
• “When food meets BRI: China’s emerging Food Silk Road” (with Cecilia Tortajada) in Global Food Security, 29, C, 2021. 2021) 100518
• “Understanding the tragedy of the commons in the South China Sea fisheries: The prisoner’s dilemma model revisited” in Marine Policy, 2021
• “Fisheries Governance in the South China Sea: Problems, Progress, and Prospects” (with Li Mingjiang) in Marine Policy, 2020
• “The U.S.-China Trade War: Is Food China’s Most Powerful Weapon?” in Asia Policy, 15, 3, 2020, pp. 59-86
• “China’s Water Diplomacy in the Mekong: A Paradigm Shift and the Role of Yunnan Provincial Government” (with Li Mingjiang) in Water International, Vol. 45, No. 4, 2020. pp. 347–364
• “Fisheries Resources Cooperation in the South China Sea: A Brief Discussion of the Objectives and Approaches” in Yunnan University Area Studies, 1, 1, 2019, pp. 75-99
• “南海渔业: ＩＵＵ 捕捞、渔业冲突和合作途径” in Journal of Boundary and Ocean Studies, 3, 5, 2018, 36-49
• Hongzhou Zhang and Mingjiang Li, 2018, Editorial. International Journal of Water Resources Development.
  https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2018.1499201
• Shaohua Zhan, Hongzhou Zhang, and Dongying He. 2018. China's Flexible Overseas Food Strategy: Food Trade and Agricultural Investment between Southeast Asia and China in 1990-2015. Globalizations. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2018.1491688 .
• Hongzhou Zhang and Mingjiang Li. 2018. "A Process-Based Framework to Examine China’s Approach to Transboundary Water Management". International Journal of Water Resources Development (CIJW). https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2018.1476225 .
• Zhang, H., 2018. Fisheries cooperation in the South China Sea: Evaluating the options. Marine Policy 89, 67–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.12.014
  
• Zhang Hongzhou and Sam Batemen (2017) "Fishing Militia, the Securitization of Fishery and the South China Sea Dispute" Contemporary Southeast Asia Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 288–314 DOI: 10.1355/cs39-2b
• Hongzhou Zhang and Fengshi Wu . 2017. "China’s Marine Fishery and Global Ocean Governance". Global Policy, DOI:10.1111/1758-5899.12419
• Tortajada, C., Hongzhou, Z., 2016. Food Policy in Singapore. Reference Module in Food Sciences. Elsevier, pp. 1–7. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.21083-4
  
• “Chinese Fishermen in Disputed Waters: Not Quite a ‘People’s War’” in Marine Policy, Vol. 68C, 2016, pp. 65-73
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. Feeding the Chinese: Wither the Self-Sufficiency Policy? IPP Review. 18 May.
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. “Sino-Indian Water Disputes: the coming of water wars?”, in WIRES Water, Volume 3, issue 2, pp:155-166
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2015. “Building the Silk Road Economic Belt: Challenges in Central Asia”, in Cambridge Journal of China Studies, Vol.10 No.3 2015
• Zhang Hongzhou. "Development of Biofuels in China: Progress, Government Policies and Future Prospects". 2015. The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies. 33 (1). PP: 40-63
• Zhang Hongzhou, "Global Food Security: Debunking the China Threat Narrative", YaleGlobal Online,April 2014
• Zhang Hongzhou and Li Mingjiang. 2014. “Hunting for food: a New driving force in Chinese foreign policy”. Harvard Asia Quarterly 16 (1 ). Pp.46-59.
• Zha Daojiong and Zhang Hongzhou," Food in China's International relations", Pacific Review, 26 (2013) 455-479
• Li Mingjiang and Zhang Hongzhou, “Singapore’s South China Sea Policy,” Southeast Asian Studies (Chinese) , 6 (2011).
• Li Mingjiang and Zhang Hongzhou, “Singapore’s South China Sea Policy,” Southeast Asian Studies (Chinese) , 6 (2011).

Edited Books / Special Issues

• China and Transboundary Water Politics in Asia (with Li Mingjiang), Eds. New York: Routledge, 2017
• China’s Global Quest for Resources: Energy, Food and Water (with Wu Fengshi), Eds. : Routledge, 2016

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Chapter 9: China’s Food (In)Security: Current Status, Emerging Challenges and Future Prospects in the Post-COVID-19 Era” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May,, and Cecilia Tortajada) in Paul Teng , Food Security Issues in Asia. Singapore: World Scientific, 2024, 235–262
• “China’s Ambitious Water Diversion Plans: Options and Implications” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May) in Wini Fred Gurung, Amit Ranjan, Emerging Security Challenges and Water Politics in the Himalayas. ISAS: ISAS, 2023, 69-77
• “China’s Water Diplomacy in the Mekong: Drivers and Goals” in Brahma Chellaney and Frederick Kliem, The Displaced: Disrupted Trade, Labour, and Politics in the Mekong River Basin. Tokyo: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, 2022, 34-55
• “China’s Global Quest for Food and the Belt and Road Initiative” in Joseph Liow, Liu Hong and Gong Xue, Research Handbook on the Belt and Road Initiative. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021, 65–75
• “Chapter 15: China’s Silk Road Economic Belt in Central Asia” in Jianwei Wang and Tiangboon Hoo, China's Omnidirectional Peripheral Diplomacy. Singapore: World Scientific, 2019, 2019, 337–360
• “When Food Crosses Borders: Paradigm Shifts in China’s Food Sectors and Implications for Vietnam” in Ehlert J., Faltmann N, Food Anxiety in Globalising Vietnam. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, 267-299
• Zhang Hongzhou, and Li Mingjiang, “The thirsty China and its transboundary waters” in China and Transboundary Water Politics in Asia, Routledge. New York: Routledge. 2017
• Zhang Hongzhou and Li Mingjiang, "China and global water governance: New developments", in China and Transboundary Water Politics in Asia, Routledge. New York: Routledge. 2017
• Zhang Hongzhou and Li Mingjiang. Chapter-"Hunting for Food: A New Driver in Chinese Foreign Policy" in book: China's Economic Statecraft Cooperation, Cooperation, and Coercion Edited by: Mingjiang Li (World Scientific: Signapore) , pp.259-291
• Hongzhou Zhang and Guoqiang Cheng, 2016. China’s food security strategy reform: an emerging global agricultural policy, in China's Global Quest for Resources: Energy, Food and Water edited by Fengshi Wu and Hongzhou Zhang (Routledge, 2016)
• Hongzhou Zhang, Food in Sino-U.S. relations: from blessing to curse? in China's Global Quest for Resources: Energy, Food and Water edited by Fengshi Wu and Hongzhou Zhang (Routledge, 2016)
• Fengshi Wu and Hongzhou Zhang. 2016. " Introduction: a rising China and the future of world resources", in China's Global Quest for Resources: Energy, Food and Water edited by Fengshi Wu and Hongzhou Zhang (Routledge, 2016)
• Zhang Hongzhou. "Chapter 8: “China’s Fishing Industry: Current Status, Government Policies and Future Prospects”, in Becoming a Great “Maritime Power”: A Chinese Dream edited by Michael McDevitt, 2016. (Washington DC: CNA)
• Li Mingjiang and Kalyan M. Kemburi and Zhang Hongzhou. " Growth of China's power Capabilities, perceptions, and practice" in Li Mingjiang and Kalyan M. Kemburi (eds.), China's Power and Asian Security, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2015.
• Li Mingjiang and Zhang Hongzhou, “Singapore’s South China Sea Policy: Implications for Freedom and Safety of Navigation,” in Shicun Wu and Keyuan Zou, eds., Securing the Safety of Navigation in East Asia (Oxford, UK: Chandos Publishing, 2013), pp. 171-190

Policy Reports

• The Sino-Russian Land Grain Corridor and China’s Quest for Food Security (with Genevieve Donnellon-May ), CENTER FOR CHINA ANALYSIS POLICY REPORT, Asia Society, 8 May 2024

Op-Eds

• “China looks to Southeast Asia for AI edge” (with Shaleen Khanal), ThinkChina, 2 April 2024
• “China’s embrace of GM crops will have global implications” (with Shaleen Khanal), ThinkChina, 24 February 2024
• “China’s Food Security After the Collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May ), The Diplomat, 30 September 2023
• “Climate change threatens China’s rice bowl”, East Asia Forum, 5 August 2023
• “How China-Russia grain corridor can help Beijing safeguard food security and boost agricultural trade” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), South China Morning Post, 23 June 2023
• “China’s fisheries policy makes a belated shift to sustainability” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), East Asia Forum, 7 April 2023
• “What Do We Really Know About China’s Food Security” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), The Diplomat, 3 February 2023
• “Transboundary Water Governance is a Regional Security in Asia” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), The Diplomat, 29 December 2022
• “How China’s Extreme Weather Summer Is Affecting Its Security” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), The Diplomat, 23 September 2022
• “Does China have a food security problem?” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), ThinkChina, 15 June 2022
• “Meeting China’s demand for meat and dairy” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), East Asia Forum, 12 May 2022
• “Hungry China’s Growing Interest in ‘Future Foods’ and Alternative Protein” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), The Diplomat, 4 May 2022
• “Recipe For Disaster?: Implications Of The Ukraine-Russia War On China’s Food Security” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), AsiaGlobal Online, 24 March 2022
• “China’s Hydropower Plan on the Brahmaputra” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), The Diplomat, 1 September 2021
• “To Build or Not to Build: Western Route of China’s South-North Water Diversion Project” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), The New Security Beat, 12 August 2021
• “Covid-19 And the Global Food Supply”, Asia Global Online, 14 May 2020
• “China’s ‘Development Approach’ to the Mekong Water Disputes”, The Diplomat, 20 March 2020
• “Zhang Hongzhou, 20119 “Weaponisation of Food”, Nestle Foundation Annual Report 2018, pp: 40-43”, Nestle Foundation Annual Report 2018, 1 May 2019
• “Zhang Hongzhou, “Beijing has a maritime militia in the South China Sea. Sound fishy?”, South China Morning Post, 3 March 2019.”, South China Morning Post , 3 March 2019
• “The dark harvest of Chinese “black ships”, The Interpreter, 25 January 2019
• Hongzhou Zhang. 2018. "Managing fisheries in the South China Sea’s troubled waters" 5 July, East Asia Forum, available at http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/07/05/managing-fisheries-in-the-south-china-seas-troubled-waters/
  
• Hongzhou Zhang. 2018. Security Implications of China’s Rising Appetite for Seafood. AsiaGlobal Online. 28 June. http://www.asiaglobalonline.hku.hk/security-china-seafood-fish/?print=pdf
• Zhang Hongzhou, 2018, "Can Aquaculture Solve the Fishing Problems in the South China Sea?" The Diplomat. 26 March 2018, available at https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/can-aquaculture-solve-the-fishing-problems-in-the-south-china-sea/
• Sam Bateman and Zhang Hongzhou, East Asia Forum, "Bigger fish to fry than militias in the South China Sea", 13 February 2018, available at http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2018/02/13/bigger-fish-to-fry-than-militias-in-the-south-china-sea/
• Zhang Hongzhou, 2017, "Understanding China’s Transboundary Water Policies: Major Gaps" in ENVIS Newsletter on Himalayan Ecology (Vol. 13(3), 2016)
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2017. "Can China solve Central Asia’s impending water crisis?". East Asia Forum. 2 February 2017, available at http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2017/02/02/can-china-solve-central-asias-impending-water-crisis/
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2017. "Can China solve Central Asia’s impending water crisis?". The National Interest. 2 February 2017, available at http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/can-china-solve-central-asias-impending-water-crisis-19289
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. "China’s Growing Appetite for Fish and Fishing Disputes in the South China Sea" All China Review, 8 November, available at http://www.allchinareview.com/chinas-growing-appetite-for-fish-and-fishing-disputes-in-the-south-china-sea/
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. "Is China Building a Maritime Militia?", IPP Review, 12 August, available at http://www.ippreview.com/index.php/Home/Blog/single/id/214.html
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. "China’s Global Food Quest" The Diplomat. 24 March
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. "China's marine fishery push and maritime disputes". The Straits Times. March 23.
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. "The GMO Controversy in China: More than Food Security". IPP Review. 16 March. Available at http://ippreview.com/index.php/Home/Blog/single/id/70.html
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2016. "North Korea Nuclear Test: Threat to China's food security"? in Lianhe Zaobao. 22 January.
• Zhang Hongzhou. "South China Sea : the story of Tanmen fishermen". The Diplomat. 8 January 2016, available at: http://thediplomat.com/2016/01/south-china-sea-the-story-of-the-tanmen-fishermen/at
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2015. “China-US Climate Change Cooperation: Beyond Energy”, The Diplomat. 13 October 2015.
• Zhang Hongzhou. "China-India: Revisiting the ‘Water Wars’ Narrative". The Diplomat. 30 June 2015, Available at http://thediplomat.com/2015/06/china-india-revisiting-the-water-wars-narrative/.
• Zhang Hongzhou. "Global Food Security: Debunking the “China Threat” Narrative " Yale Global Online. 24 April 2014
• Zhang Hongzhou. "The thinking behind China’s maritime militia policy is becoming increasingly obsolete.". The Diplomat. 10 May 2015, available at http://thediplomat.com/2015/05/rethinking-chinas-maritime-militia-policy/
  
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2015. "China-US climate change cooperation should move beyond energy". ChinaDialogue. 15 October (Chinese)
• Zhang Hongzhou. "How to Solve the Fishing disputes". Lianhe Zaobao. 9 February 2015.
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2015. "Can the potato help feed China, cut pollution and alleviate drought?". Chinadialogue.
• Zhang Hongzhou. 2015. Water Disputes between China and India: Two Major Misperceptions Revisited. China-India Brief 42.
• Zhang Hongzhou. "Chinese Fishermen in Troubled Waters". The Diplomat. 23 October 2014
• Zhang Hongzhou. "Confronting China’s water insecurity". Today. 30 April 2014.
• Zhang Hongzhou."Food policy reform key to boosting China’s water security". Cleanbiz.Asia. 25 April 2014.
• Zhang Hongzhou. “GM Food: A emerging threat to Sino-US relations”, Lianhe Zaobao. 1 February 2014.
• Zhang Hongzhou. "Sino-US Cooperation: key to global food security". Lianhe Zaobao. 3 September 2013
• Zhang Hongzhou. "It is hard for China to resist GM food". Lianhe Zaobao. 1 July 2013.
• Zhang Hongzhou. "Behind China's grain miracle: more than meets the eye". The Nation. 23 February 2013.
• Zhang Hongzhou. "To feed its millions, China needs to look to the world's oceans". The Nation. 5 December 2012.

IP6007: IP6007-PUBLIC CHOICE & INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC GOODS

IP6015: QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

RS7002: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS IN THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS