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Brian Wong

Brian Wong

Fellow, Advisor on Strategy

Dr. Brian Wong is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at Hong Kong University.  He is a political theorist and geopolitical strategist whose research examines authoritarian regimes and citizens’ political and moral responsibilities, colonial and historical injustices, and the interaction between domestic politics and foreign policy of states in East Asia, especially China.

Brian has taught modules in politics to undergraduate students at Oxford and Stanford Universities, and has delivered keynote speeches across Harvard-Science Po, Carnegie-Tsinghua, Tsinghua, Tufts, and Stanford campuses.

Brian is a Hong Kong Rhodes Scholar (2020). He obtained his DPhil in Politics at Balliol College, Oxford University. He holds an MPhil in Political Theory (Distinction) from Wolfson College, University of Oxford, and an MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (First Class) from Pembroke College, University of Oxford, with the latter being funded in full by a Kwok Scholarship.

He co-founded and advises Oxford Political Review, a publication aspiring to bridge the theory-practice gap. He has also been a frequent contributor to think-tanks such as the Carter Centre’s flagship US-China Perception Monitor and the UK National Committee on China. His latest publication is ‘How Should Liberal Democratic Governments Treat Conscientious Disobedience as A Response to State Injustice’ (2022), co-authored with Prof. Joseph Chan Cho Wai (HKU, Princeton).

As a columnist at the Hong Kong Economic Journal and Editor-at-Large for ThriveGlobal, Brian contributes regularly to publications such as TIME, Foreign Policy, Aeon, Financial Times, Diplomat, Fortune, SCMP, Nikkei, Japan Times, the US Asia Law Institute, E-IR, Institute of Art and Ideas, Neican, and The Hindu, having also presented and written on issues of public philosophy for the Journal of Practical Ethics, the American Philosophical Association, and the Royal Institute of Philosophy. Brian’s comments have been featured on The Atlantic, Nikkei, and POLITICO. He also serves as the Strategy Head for Polemix, a Web 3 start-up.

Brian coached Eton College’s debate programme for four years, and was the first ever Hong Kong-born Chinese to have advanced to the open semifinals of the World Universities Debating Championships (2020).

Areas of expertise

  • Chinese foreign policy
  •  Historical injustice
  • Authoritarian regimes
  • Medium and small statecraft