Dr. Miao Ji is Associate professor from the Institute of Asian Studies, China Foreign Affairs University. He also serves as research fellow of the China National Collaborative Innovation Center for Territorial Sovereignty and Maritime Rights. He holds a doctor’s degree in law from School of International Studies, Renmin University of China and political science from Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University, Japan. His research focuses on Japan politics and foreign policy, Asian regionalism and international relations of the Indo-Pacific. He was academic associate with the Weahterhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University 2022-2023 and Wang Gungwu visiting fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute 2025.

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Dr. Minna YU is an Associate Professor at the School of Law, Ocean University of China (OUC), and a researcher at the South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI). She holds a Ph.D. in Public International Law from Wuhan University, China, and a master’s degree in Maritime Law from Dalian Maritime University. Her research focuses on the law of the sea, with particular interests in international fisheries law and policy, BBNJ agreement, international dispute resolution, and subsea critical infrastructure. She has published widely in the fields of international law and the law of the sea, including articles in journals such as the Chinese Journal of International Law. She has also contributed to several books as an author and editor and has served as principal investigator for several research projects.

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Hu Bo is research professor & director of the Center for Maritime Strategy Studies, Peking University, and director of SCSPI. He received his PhD in Politics from the School of International Studies at Peking University and has extensive experience in policy analysis and consulting. His areas of specialization include maritime strategy, international security, and Chinese diplomacy. He has written three books and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters on topics related to China’s maritime strategy and policy. His most recent books published are as follows: China’s Maritime Power in 2049 (China Development Press, 2015), China’s Sea Power in the Post Mahan Era (Ocean Press, 2018), and Chinese Maritime Power in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2019).

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Hao Nan is a Geneva-based policy researcher with the Geneva Graduate Institute and Interpeace. His research focuses on nuclear security and geopolitics, strategic competition, and the strategic agency of middle powers, with particular interests in ballistic missile proliferation, nuclear restraint and hedging, and security dynamics across East Asia and the Middle East. He previously worked at the East Asian intergovernmental institutions, including the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (for China, Japan and ROK) in Seoul and the ASEAN-China Centre in Beijing, and strategic studies institutions such as the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research in Abu Dhabi and the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi. His academic training spans public policy, international law, and Middle Eastern studies.

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Dr. ZHENG Zhihua is an associate Professor of Japan Research Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Head of East Asia Marine Policy Project. He is also a member of the Professional Committee of Maritime History and Culture Research of the China Maritime Society. He severed as the director of Joint Institute for Maritime Law and History, assistant dean of the School of International Shipping Law at East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL), and deputy secretary general of Shanghai Law and Society Association. He joined the board of editorial of China Ocean Law Review and severed as senior editor from 2010 to 2013. He was appointed as Judge of Ningbo Maritime Court in 2004. He got qualification for admission to the Chinese Bar in 1998. He was a visiting fellow of St. John’s College at Oxford University, Institute of Maritime Law at Southampton University and Law Faculty at Göettingen University.

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Dr. XIAOQIN SHI is an adjunct professor at the School of Public Administration of Zhejiang University, a senior researcher at the Institute of Social Governance of Zhejiang University, and a retired Senior Colonel. Her research fields are maritime security, national security, and naval strategy, and she has published the book Seapower and Sino-US Relations.

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Shen Dingli is a member of Grandview Institution’s Academic Committee, and its Director of Center for American Studies. He is a professor emeritus and former executive dean at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, and former Director of Center for American Studies. He is also an Honorary Visiting Professor of Washington University in St. Louis. He has taught international security, China-US relations, China’s foreign and defense policy in China, the US and the “Semester at Sea” Program. His research and publication covers China-US security relations, regional security and international strategy, arms control and nonproliferation, foreign and defense policy of China and the US etc. He was Vice President of Chinese Association of South Asian Studies, Shanghai Association of International Studies, Shanghai Association of International Strategic Studies, Shanghai Association of American Studies, Shanghai UN Research Association, and Shanghai Public Policy Research Association. He received his Ph.D. in physics from Fudan in 1989 and did post-doc in arms control at Princeton University from 1989-1991. He was an Eisenhower Fellow in 1996, and advised in 2002 the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for his strategic planning of second term. He is on the Global Council of the Asia Society, and on the International Advisory Board of Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear-Nonproliferation and Disarmament. He has been appointed by both Shanghai and Hangzhou Municipality as Convention Ambassador, respectively. He has co-edited 17 books and published over 2,500 papers and articles worldwide.

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Sophie Wushuang Yi holds a PhD in Chinese studies (international relations) from King’s College London, where she specialised in Sino-US relations, military and strategic studies, and South China Sea geopolitics. She is currently a postdoctoral teaching fellow at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, a research fellow at the Marine Studies Centre of the Grandview Institution, a Visiting Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, a non-resident fellow with the Beijing Club for International Dialogue. Sophie also has extensive professional experience, having served as an economist assistant at the United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in Beijing. She earned her bachelor’s degree in international politics and security studies from the University of Sheffield and pursued graduate studies in economics at SOAS, as well as China in comparative perspectives at the London School of Economics (LSE).

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Captain (Ret.) Liu Xiaobo is a senior fellow and director of the Marine Study Center, Grandview Institution, Beijing, China. His research focuses on national maritime security policy, sea power, and the Law of the Sea. Before joining the Grandview Institution, Capt. Liu had served in the PLA Navy for 24 years and had worked as a research fellow in the National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

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