Xueqing Grace Zeng

Grace Xueqing Zeng joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center as Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow on Contemporary Asia for the 2026-2027 academic year. She is a political scientist specializing in international political economy, with a focus on China's use of trade and investment to influence global regulatory governance. Her research examines how states leverage economic tools to shape international rules and institutions. Her work on China's trade practices shows how China uses seemingly technical health and safety regulations to exert pressure on other nations, systematically increasing import restrictions in response to political tensions.

At APARC, she will pursue projects that extend this research agenda by examining China's growing influence in global governance. One project investigates whether China strategically uses infrastructure investment and foreign subsidiaries to shape international environmental standards. Another examines China’s information control system through the lens of its WTO commitments and the global governance of cyberspace.

Before joining Stanford, Grace was a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. She also holds an M.A. in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Hong Kong.