While we have a general impression that money can buy influence, the specific forms and extent of that influence, particularly in the context of states interacting under the stated goal of upholding normative standards, remain open questions. Using text-based coding and analysis of over 90,000 UN Universal Periodic Reviews entries, I developed original measures of the leniency in countries’ reviews and the textual similarity among states’ review narratives. The findings show that the major recipients of China’s overseas development initiatives tend to avoid criticizing China harshly on sensitive human rights topics. In particular, after receiving new aid projects and debt relief from China, countries are more lenient in their reviews of China’s human rights records in the subsequent cycles. This effect, however, is conditional. It is most pronounced in the “middle” countries whose stance on human rights norms is neither too aligned with nor too distant from China’s, but much less evident in the “distant” group, which holds normative ideals furthest from China’s. My findings have two implications: economic incentives do not uniformly alter states’ normative positions, and the pre-existing normative beliefs and predispositions of states can play a role in vote-buying games, broadly defined, in international organizations.

Beyond Liberal Narratives: China and the International Human Rights Order (with Xinyuan Dai) [International Affairs, 2025][Link]

The meteoric rise of China represents a seismic shift in International Relations. With a focus on human rights, we examine this shift’s implication on the international institutional order — does China challenge, undermine, and replace rules and institution’s that an earlier and much weaker China did not fully participate in making? Using the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) as a laboratory, we analyze more than 93,000 recommendations made between 2008 and 2021. We highlight the multidimensionality of international human rights norms and provide new and systematic evidence that China, like most other countries, endorse some norms than others. China champions strongly and increasingly economic and social rights. Its position is shared by many countries, particularly the Global South, which believe economic and social rights are more important than civil and political rights.

Political Communication and Public Diplomacy

Autocrats have always sought to win the hearts and minds of their citizens, but whether they are more capable of achieving this goal through direct interactions with citizens on social media is an open question. This study examines the communication strategies of Chinese state-run media on social media regarding international news. I draw on observational data from Weibo, to reveal how state-run media engage with international news. Their engagement manifests in two modes, neutrally or sensationally. The more neutral and moderate approach adopted by state-run media in their narratives is likely to elicit positive evaluations of the host government or exacerbate negative perceptions of the foreign country’s situation, particularly in the case of the U.S. This paper demonstrates how the nuanced media strategies employed by state-run media in engaging the online public on social media can engender greater public support for the government than previously assumed.

Absent formal avenues of transparency, how does China publicize its foreign aid and debt allocation efforts? We examine the role of Chinese state-sponsored media and diplomacy as complements to Chinese foreign aid. We use AidData’s Chinese development finance dataset and its recently released diplomacy dataset, along with meta-data from millions of Xinhua news articles between 2002 and 2017. We find that China likes to publicize its role as donor, but seeks closer ties with its debtors.

“Soft Propaganda.” [Forthcoming in Encyclopedia of Political Communication]

Soft propaganda is often considered as a residual category encompassing all forms of propaganda that do not fall under the category of hard propaganda. In comparison to hard propaganda, soft propaganda tends to be more entertaining, emotionally captivating, and potentially more credible. This approach can be particularly effective in today’s media era. Nonetheless, the key challenge in studying the effectiveness of soft propaganda lies in defining and understanding the intricacies of this elusive concept.

Chinese Global Governance

Going Green: Impacts of China’s Domestic Green Policy Shift on its Overseas Renewable Energy Finance Projects (with Lula Chen)[Link]

China is currently expanding its investment in renewable energy sources within its domestic sphere. This transition towards green growth is primarily driven by increased pressure and concerns over citizens’ health. However, it is intriguing to observe that China’s overseas finance portfolio is also embracing greener energy initiatives. Why are Chinese overseas finance projects transitioning to greener energy even without pressure from domestic constituents or foreign countries? We argue that it is a downstream effect of China’s stricter environmental regulation on green economy and renewable energy initiatives back in 2012. To explain why China appears as a genuine leading player in spearheading renewable technologies and fostering the global green economy market, its prior green domestic policy shift carries more weight than international commitments.

Up-and-Coming Chinese Aid: Local Affinity to the Chinese Model in the Shadow of Western Donors

China spends billions of dollars on aid, but can its money buy influence among citizens from recipient countries? I investigate the extent to which Chinese aid in recipient countries compares to the more established World Bank aid, and I also examine the public’s perceptions of these two donors. In contrast to the common perception of unwelcoming Chinese aid, I demonstrate that Chinese aid has garnered appreciation among the locals in recipient countries, particularly when they co-exist with traditional World Bank aid projects and in areas where Chinese aid demonstrates a specialization.

Connect First, then Suppress: Do Communication Aid Projects Undermine Internet Freedom? (with Yujeong Yang, Miles Williams, and Xinle Jia) [Forthcoming, Studies in Comparative International Development]

In both democracies and autocracies, the erosion of internet freedom represents a substantial threat to democracy. Over recent decades, developing countries have witnessed a rapid surge in internet connectivity, driven in part by an upswing in aid projects dedicated to information and communication technology (ICT) development. Our research reveals that Chinese aid geared toward ICT development has a negative relationship with internet freedom in recipient countries. Conversely, communication-related aid projects funded by the World Bank do not exhibit a similarly negative correlation.

Text-as-data

Codes of Conduct in Political Science Conferences: Prevalence and Content (with Nora Webb Williams) [PS: Political Science & Politics, 2024][Link][Replication data]

Academic conferences ideally promote positive environments that make scholars from underrepresented groups feel welcome. Yet negative experiences at conferences continue. Codes of conduct have been promoted as tools to reduce harassment and discrimination. We examine the prevalence and content of codes at U.S.-based political science conferences and workshops. More specifically, we analyze how codes address issues of sexual misconduct and identity-based discrimination. We find that 19% of surveyed conferences have codes. Many of the codes are what we deem to be “symbolic.” We argue that effective conference codes must contain clear definitions, clear reporting channels, and clear enforcement procedures.