Skills/Experience

Dr Janet Xuanli Liao is Lecturer in International Relations and Energy Security Studies at the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP), University of Dundee. She is also Honorary Professor at the China Institute of Boundary Studies, Wuhan University, China.

She obtained a PhD in International Relation from the University of Hong Kong, studied B.A and M.A. in History at Peking University, China, and held M.A. in International Relations from the International University of Japan. She used to work at the History Department and the Institute of International Relations of Peking University.

She joined the CEPMLP in 2001. She also served as visiting researcher at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London, the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, and the Institute for Security & Development Policy, Sweden. Her current research interests include Chinese foreign policy analysis and China’s energy diplomacy, Sino-Japanese political/ energy relations, energy security and environmental politics in East Asia, and the relationship between the government and oil companies in the UK, Japan, and China.

Dr Liao’s recent key publications include: The Strategic Implications of China’s Energy Needs (Adelphi Paper 346 2002, with P Andrews-Speed and R Dannreuther); Foreign Policy Think Tanks and China’s Policy Towards Japan (Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 2006); “A Silk Road for Oil: Sino-Kazakh Energy Diplomacy”, (The Brown Journal of World Affairs, 2006); “The petroleum factor in Sino-Japanese relations: beyond energy cooperation” (International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 2007); and, “Sino-Japanese energy security and regional stability: the case of the East China Sea gas exploration” (East Asia: An International Quarterly, 2008). Her ongoing research deals with China’s energy diplomacy and peaceful rise, China’s energy strategy in the Middle East, and China’s climate change policy, etc. 

Role in the Project

POLINARES Project Advisor