Biography

Dr. Taiyi Sun, Associate Professor of the Political Science Department, joined the faculty of Christopher Newport in 2017. He is originally from Hangzhou, China. As a member of Phi Beta Kappa, he received his B.A. in politics & government and business administration from Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, and M.A. in international affairs from American University School of International Service, Washington, D.C., and Ph.D. in political science from Boston University.

His most recent books include:

Taiyi Sun, Sino-U.S. Power Play and the Qin Qi Conundrum: Stability through Ambiguity, Reciprocal Vulnerability, and Order Succession, Routledge (forthcoming 2026).

Taiyi Sun and Dennis Lu-Chung Weng, Misjudging War? Elite Perceptions and Strategic Risk of Beijing, Taipei, and Washington in the Taiwan Strait (谁在误判战争？台海局势下华府与两岸菁英认知差距), Sunny and Warm Publishing House (Nuan Nuan Shu Wu, in Traditional Chinese 2026).

Taiyi Sun and Dennis Lu-Chung Weng, The Myth of War in the Taiwan Strait: Elite Perspectives from Beijing, Taipei, and Washington, amid the Yizhou Dilemma, Lexington Books, 2025.

Taiyi Sun, Disruptions as Opportunities: Governing the Chinese Society with Interactive Authoritarianism, the University of Michigan Press, 2023.

Elizabeth Matto, Alison McCartney, Elizabeth A. Bennion, Taiyi Sun, Alasdair Blair, Dawn Whitehead, and Dick Simpson, ed. Teaching Civic Engagement Globally, American Political Science Association, 2021.

Taiyi Sun, 和圈内人聊美国大选 (Insider Perspectives: Navigating the American Election), Zhejiang Publishing Group (浙江出版集团), 2016.

His work has appeared in leading academic journals and publishers, including International Relations, PS: Political Science & Politics, Politics and Society, the China Quarterly, China Information, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Journal of Contemporary China, Made in China, Contemporary American Review, Japan Studies, Routledge, University of Michigan Press, Australia National University Press, and World Scientific Reference.

Dr. Sun appears regularly on domestic and international media outlets in over a dozen countries and territories as a TV commentator, columnist, and expert analyst. He serves as the executive editor of the Global Forum of Chinese Political Scientists' main publication, Global China (海外看世界), and is the founder of a daily Mandarin-language political briefing, Inside the Beltway（华府圈内）. Please visit his personal website for more details: www.taiyisun.com