Xiaohui (Anne) Wu
Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
Contact:
Email: Xiaohui_Wu@harvard.edu
Experience
Anne (Xiaohui) Wu is a joint International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom Associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She was a joint International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom research fellow from 2004–2007. She received her MPA degree as an Edward S. Mason Fellow at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Prior to joining Harvard University, she was a career diplomat serving as the Director of the Political & Press Department in the Embassy of China to Singapore and the chief analyst of the Asian Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. Her work covered China's diplomacy with Asian countries and foreign policy analysis focusing on Asian-Pacific security issues, multilateralism, and conflict resolution. She was a keynote-speech writer for several Chinese state leaders and author of numerous research papers on diplomacy and international relations. She has published articles in the Washington Quarterly and the Non-Proliferation Review, and her op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal Asia, the Boston Globe, and Time Asia magazine, etc.
Her current research interests include China's new diplomacy, multilateralism and the United Nations, and the cooperation among major powers in resolving the North Korean and Iranian nuclear crises.
July 2008
"Denuclearization of the DPRK—A Role for the United Nations?"
Paper, volume 3
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"The denuclearization of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) continues to be a source of considerable international concern. Yet, no coherent international framework has emerged to deal with this challenge in parallel with the regional mechanism of the six-party talks. With the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference set for 2010, appropriately addressing the DPRK nuclear issue is being identified as essential to maintaining the strength of the NPT. Can the United Nations (UN) afford to take a back seat in attempts at resolution?This article examines the potential of, and prospects for, an active UN role in facilitating Pyongyang's denuclearization process. Anne Wu's paper examines the potential of, and prospects for, an active UN role in facilitating Pyongyang's denuclearization process."
AP Photo
2008
"La Cina e le Bombe Asiatiche"
Journal Article, Aspenia, issue 41
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
As a progressively responsible and cooperative partner of the global, nuclear non-proliferation regime, China faces challenges on multiple fronts that have brought judgment, reflection, and debate, domestically as well as internationally, on its non-proliferation policy. Since 1980s, China's historical reservations about, and skepticism and independence of, the global non-proliferation regime have consequently been gradually transitioning to active participation in and even integration with, as well as strong support of, the process.
AP Photo
April 14, 2008
"Separating Tibet and the Olympics"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"Some people believe it is fair to vent their grievances with China, but don't see any unfairness in depriving China and its people of the dream to host the Games. In both 1936 and 1948, Chinese Olympian athletes had to detour through Asia to raise fund for their trips by performing in competitions. They ended up exhausted and defeated in the Olympics. It would be equally unfair to deprive the world's athletes of their dreams and the chance to compete in the most important global athletic competition."
AP Photo
February 25, 2008
"In China, a Beacon of Heroism"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"In facing the disaster, China lacked the well-established infrastructure, an adequate crisis management system, and well-trained disaster-relief professionals like in Western countries. Yet it was the ordinary people who made up for those deficiencies. The solidarity and cooperation of the Chinese people, which the government swiftly and effectively mobilized, restored the country to normal operations quickly. Some foreign observers exclaimed that another country affected by a disaster of the same scale would have been paralyzed."
AP Photo
February 22, 2008
"Flexing Muscles in the Year of the Rat?"
Op-Ed, The San Francisco Chronicle
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"...while relations with "problematic" countries have soured when the United States and some European nations insisted on carrying a big stick, it is wiser for China not to burn its bridges. If China had signed on to coercive diplomacy, countries such as Sudan, Burma and North Korea would not have listened, and there would have been no way for China to serve as a constructive messenger. China's power looks muscular, but it stands to lose those muscles once they are flexed."
AP Photo
February 12, 2008
"Rethinking Beijing's Burma Policy"
Op-Ed, The Bangkok Post
By Jason Qian and Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"China would want to avoid choosing sides in Burma, so as not to compromise its holistic interests. A more effective route is to manage relations with all to maximise common interest. To achieve this, the motto of 'there are no permanent friends or enemies in international relations' is the key....As in the case of North Korea, China does not want the problems of a neighbour like Burma spilling over into its own territory. Burma is also part of China's strategic configuration with other regional and international players."
2007
"The Rise of China's Harmony-Oriented Diplomacy"
Journal Article, POLITIKA Annual Journal
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
China’s diplomacy is assuming a more assertive face by advocating harmony between countries and between peoples. This transformation has been commensurate with China’s power reemergence and with its reclaiming of the cultural richness of Confucianism.
July 23, 2007
"China's Delicate Role on Darfur"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By Jason Qian and Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
SOME IN the West have recently begun referring to the 2008 Beijing Olympics as the "Genocide Olympics" because of China's continued business ties with Sudan and its reluctance to intervene decisively in the Darfur conflict....
January 10, 2007
"UN's Moment for Peaceful Korean Peninsula"
Op-Ed, The Korea Times
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"Fifty years ago, the U.N. under the domination of one power participated in a war that engulfed the Korean Peninsula. Currently, the nuclear imbroglio and the undercurrent of conflict there provide the U.N. an opportunity to write a new chapter on its role on the peninsula after a lapse of fifty years."
December 13, 2006
"Kofi Annan's Legacy on Counterterrorism"
Op-Ed, Center for Public Leadership News
By Xiaohui (Anne) Wu, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s recently concluded efforts to promote the deliberation among the UN’s 192 member states on a global counterterrorism strategy may well represent the most difficult challenge he has faced in what many see as the most difficult job in the world. After months of consultations starting from a debate on Kofi Annan’s recommendations, member states finally reached consensus this past September on such a strategy, the first of its kind in UN history....Difficulties...led Annan to realize that the only way he could achieve a breakthrough on the issue of terrorism was to focus on the practicalities of a counterterrorism strategy. No matter how much member states differ on the definition of terrorism, he reasoned they share the common interest in stable development. This common interest ultimately proved decisive."
