Yang Zi is an Associate Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). His research interests include civil–military relations, military disintegration and defection, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, and Chinese intelligence history. Currently, he is completing his Ph.D. dissertation on military defections to violent revolutionary movements. Mr. Yang has taught courses and delivered lecturers to graduate students and security professionals on China’s domestic politics and military affairs. His academic writings on China have been published in journals such as Civil Wars, Comparative Strategy, International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Small Wars & Insurgencies, Intelligence and National Security, and Asia Policy. In addition, he has authored numerous commentaries for diverse outlets. Mr. Yang holds an M.A. in Asian Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and a B.A. in Global Affairs and History from George Mason University.

• Civil-Military Relations
• Military Disintegration and Defection
• Chinese People’s Liberation Army
• Chinese Intelligence History

RSIS Commentary Series

• Whither US-China Relations Under Trump 2.0?

  22 January, 2025

• China’s Renminbi Internationalization

  28 December, 2022

• ASEAN-China COVID-19 Meeting: Why and What’s Next?

  28 February, 2020

• China’s Response to Coronavirus Outbreak: Implications for ASEAN

  22 January, 2020

• The Middle East Effect: How US’ China Policy Will be Influenced

  08 January, 2020

• Iran-Russia-China Trilateral Naval Exercise: China’s New Mideast Strategy?

  06 January, 2020

• CO18093 | China’s Laser Weapons: Future Potential, Future Tensions?

  05 June, 2018

IDSS Papers

• IP25048 | Lights Out at the Office of Net Assessment: Implications for the US-China Military Competition

  01 April, 2025

• IP25024 | The Trump-Zelenskyy Confrontation: Setting the Stage for a Renewal in China-Southeast Asia Relations

  06 March, 2025

Journal Articles

• “Failure of China’s COVID-19 health diplomacy in wining hearts and minds in Thailand and the Philippines: political efficacy constrained by local politics” (with Li Mingjiang, and Li Xirui ) in International Journal of Asian Studies , Vol. 22, Issue 1, 2024. p.83–102
• “The PLA’s International Relief Operations amid Regional and Global Disease Outbreaks—With Reference to the Ebola and Covid-19 Cases” (with Lee Jonghyuk) in The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis , Vol. 35, No. 2, 2023. To be Advised
• “Turning the Tide: What Enabled the ‘Defection Mutinies’ of Nationalist Naval Vessels During the Chinese Civil War?” in Civil Wars , Vol. 25, No. 4, 2023, To be Advised
• “The Bingyun Strategy: How Subverting Armed Forces Aided the Chinese Communist Party’s Rise to Power” in Comparative Strategy , Vol. 42, No. 1, 2023, p.14-33
• “The Enigmatic Intelligencer: Deng Fa and the Chinese Communist Secret Police Profession” in International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 36, No. 2, 2022, p.541-563
• “Securing the Keystone: The Suppression of Anti-Communist Insurgents in Southern China, 1949–1952” in Small Wars and Insurgencies , Vol. 32, No. 7, 2021, p.1029-1055
• “The Chinese Communist Party’s Exploitation of the Second United Front: Intelligence and Counterintelligence on a Middle Force Territory” in Intelligence and National Security , Vol. 37, No. 1, 2021, p.73-89
• “Opening Up While Closing Up: Balancing China’s State Secrecy Needs and Military-Civil Fusion” in Asia Policy , Vol. 16, No. 1, 2021, To be Advised

Chapters in Edited Books

• “How China Leverages Artificial Intelligence for Military Decision-making” in Roy D. Kamphausen, China's Military Decision-making in Times of Crisis and Conflict. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Asian Research, 2023, To be advised
• “Character Assassination and the Contemporary Anti-corruption Campaign in the Chinese Military” in Sergei A. Samoilenko, Martijn Icks, Jennifer Keohane, Eric B. Shiraev, Character Assassination and the Contemporary Anti-corruption Campaign in the Chinese Military. United Kingdom: Routledge , 2019, pp. 117 - 130

Working Papers

• Party on the Bridge: Political Commissars in the Chinese Navy (with Jeff Benson), CSIS Report, Center for Strategic and International Studies, 29 June 2020
• Assessing Mental Health Challenges in the People’s Liberation Army, Part 2: Physical Operational Environments and Their Impacts on PLA Service Members, China Brief, Washington D.C., 14 August 2019
• Assessing Mental Health Challenges in the People’s Liberation Army, Part 1: Psychological Factors Affecting Service Members, and the Leadership Response, China Brief, Washington, D.C., 31 July 2019
• Securing China’s Belt and Road Initiative, United States Institute of Peace Special Report, United States Institute of Peace, Washington, D.C., 26 November 2018

Op-Eds

• “Russia’s Stalled Invasion of Ukraine: Lessons for China’s Leaders”, The Diplomat, 6 April 2022
• “Interpreting China’s Policy Toward the Russia-Ukraine Crisis”, The Diplomat, 24 February 2022
• “The Invisible Threat to China’s Navy: Corruption”, The Diplomat, 19 May 2020
• “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Relations between China and the Middle East”, Asia Dialogue, 17 March 2020
• “Cracks in the System: COVID-19 in Chinese Prisons”, The Diplomat, 9 March 2020
• “Decoding China’s Cryptography Law”, The Diplomat, 30 October 2019
• “‘PLA Stratagems for Establishing Wartime Electromagnetic Dominance: An Analysis of “The Winning Mechanisms of Electronic Countermeasures”’”, China Brief, 1 February 2019
• “As South China Sea Tensions Rise, China’s Participation in ASEAN Naval Exercise Raises Hope of Calmer Waters” (with Li Mingjiang), South China Morning Post, 6 November 2018
• “China’s Military Health Diplomacy”, The Diplomat, 2 October 2018
• “Vostok 2018: Russia and China’s Diverging Common Interests”, The Diplomat, 17 September 2018
• “China’s State Media is Going Global”, East Asia Forum, 13 May 2018
• “Blinding the Enemy: How the PRC Prepares for Radar Countermeasures”, China Brief, 9 April 2018
• “Are China’s Soldiers Psychologically Fit for Modern Wars?”, The Diplomat, 1 April 2018
• “The Militarization of China’s People’s Armed Police”, Asia Times, 25 March 2018
• “The Ideology Behind China’s Fast-changing Military”, The Diplomat, 24 January 2018