Dr. Lucie Qian Xia is a political scientist and diplomatic advisor. She is currently a Lecturer in the Politics and International Relations of China at the University of Oxford, where she is teaching at the Department of Politics and International Relations, the School of Global and Area Studies and is also affiliated with the China Centre.

Lucie holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, a master’s from the London School of Economics and Political Science and has also studied at the Ecole normale supérieure in Paris. Prior to academia, Lucie worked at the Delegation of the European Union to China in Beijing and the UN Representation Office to the EU in Brussels. She maintains an enduring interest in French and European affairs.

Lucie’s current research relates to Chinese diplomacy, the interlinkages and institutional dynamics of Chinese politics and China’s foreign policy and China’s place in international negotiations. Lucie’s first book The Diplomatic Making of EU-China Relations: Structure, Substance and Style (Routledge, 2023) introduces a novel theoretical model of diplomatic relationship-building that brings to the fore the more nuanced and latent factors to make sense of diplomatic relationship-building, and sheds light on the opportunities and challenges in enhancing EU-China relations.

She is currently working on a second book project exploring the continuation and evolution in China’s diplomacy across different issue areas and regions in the world, and impact on the international order.