The China studies program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies is regarded as one of the most prestigious in the US. Its director, David Lampton, was recently given the top ranking in an evaluation of American China experts.

 

On Jan. 15, the Evaluation Report on American China Studies Scholars was released by the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. The report analyzed views expressed by 158 renowned American experts on China from universities, think tanks, government and the military from 2003 to 2013 and assessed their influence.

According to the report, David Lampton is on top of the list; M. Taylor Fravel, a young scholar at MIT is also among the top 20.
 

Lampton is the director of the China studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and was formerly the president of the National Committee on US-China Relations for 10 years. He has been engaged in China studies for more than 40 years and is considered one of the most authoritative scholars on the subject of China in US academia for his comprehensive knowledge of the country in terms of politics, economics and social issues.
 

It is noteworthy that in addition to well-established experts like Lampton, many young scholars appeared in the top 20 list.
 

Wang Fan, vice-president of China Foreign Affairs University, said that a generation of young scholars is on the rise and their views will have a greater impact on US-China relations.

Ranking eighth on the list, Fravel is part of the “70s generation” of China scholars. He is an associate professor of Political Science at MIT and a well-known expert on the South China Sea territorial disputes.
 

Zhou Qi, a research fellow from the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Fravel has an even-handed outlook with regard to the South China Sea issue, arguing for a proper approach to settle the dispute instead of confrontation.

In his book Strong Borders, Secure Nation: Cooperation and Conflict in China’s Territorial Disputes, Fravel wrote that concerns that China might be prone to violent conflict over territory are overstated.
 

The evaluation comprises three indicators, namely academic, policy and social impact. Academic impact is the basis for policy and social impact and weighed 40 percent in the evaluation. This factor was mainly assessed based on the quantity and quality of publications as well as the number of citations. Some elderly or retired scholars who rarely published any works within the period did not get a final score, so they are absent in the list.
 

Policy impact weighs 35 percent and is more difficult to assess. Zhang Xiaoming, a professor of international relations at Peking University explained that meetings with the greatest impact on policy are usually not public, so it is hard to get data for evaluation.

However, the report adopted an experimental design by linking scholars’ views to the creation of related US policies and testing their influence on policies as well as their participation in the decision-making process.
 

For example, participation in drafting China-related reports, conferences and holding various government posts will generate different scores.
 

Social impact accounts for 25 percent of the evaluation, including public recognition, consistency of opinions and social networks.

“When we study US policies, we pay more attention to US government and decision makers. The systematic study on scholars and their influence is far from enough,” said Men Honghua, a professor from the Institute for International Strategic Studies at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China.
 

Wang said that the comprehensive ranking of top US China experts enables us to gain an overall and clear understanding of the characteristics and situation of contemporary China studies in the US, which provides reference for emphasis and priority in US-China academic exchange and cooperation between think tanks.

“Ranking is not the final goal. Rather, it is intended to carry out exclusive exchanges, communication and cooperation with US scholars, prompting them to form a correct outlook on China while contributing to building a new model for the relationship between great powers,” Wang said.