Jessica C. Liao is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow in the Asia Program, as well as an associate professor of Asian Studies in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the US Army War College and an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, Asia Pacific Program.

Previously, she was an associate professor of political science at the School of Public and International Affairs at North Carolina State University. She was a 2020–21 Wilson China Fellow and formerly served as an Economic Development Specialist at the US Embassy in Beijing, where she covered China’s relations with Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Southern California. 

Her research focuses on China’s foreign policy, the international political economy of East Asia, particularly China’s and Japan’s foreign policies, US Indo-Pacific strategy, and China-Southeast Asia relations. Her work has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Diplomat, The Pacific Review, Journal of Contemporary China, New Political Economy, Global Policy, and Global Governance. She has been invited to talks at leading institutions across the US, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Chilie, and Australia. She has been featured by the Voice of America, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Wire China, and South China Morning Post. In 2022, she served as an Economic Development Specialist at the US Embassy in Beijing, covering China’s external engagements with countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.