Dr. John W. Tai is Senior Advisor, Pamir Consulting LLC. He is also a Course Coordinator (McColm consultant) at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State, where he teaches courses on China and Taiwan. For nearly 12 years, he supported the U.S. intelligence community as an open-source analyst. Earlier in his career, John had served as an East Asia analyst at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. He had also advised the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth. He is the author of Building Civil Society in Authoritarian China (Springer, 2015) and has written on China’s technological, political, and economic developments, China's maritime strategy, Taiwan’s military diplomacy and its external relations, and South Korea's relations with the United States and China.
Ph.D. Political Science, George Washington University
M.A. East Asian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
B.A. Political Science and History, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
IAFF 6302 Taiwan: Internal Development and Foreign Policy
IAFF 3186 Taiwan: What is the Big Deal?
Building Civil Society in Authoritarian China: Importance of Leadership Connections for Establishing Effective Nongovernmental Organizations in a Non-Democracy. Springer. 2015.
“Challenges of Asymmetry: South Korea and U.S.-China Rivalry.” In Nicholas Khoo et al eds. Indo-Pacific Security: US-China Rivalry and Regional States’ Response. World Scientific Publishing. January 2024. (co-author with Kanghee Park)
“Wukan: Failed Promises of the Era of Reform and Opening.” Critical Asian Studies. 55:1 (146-155). 2023. DOI: 10.1080/14672715.2022.2160366
“What Does the Summit for Democracy Tell Us About U.S.-Taiwan Relations?” Taiwan Insight. December 17, 2021. https://taiwaninsight.org/2021/12/17/what-does-the-summit-for-democracy-tell-us-about-u-s-taiwan-relations/
“Military Diplomacy: Another Way To Support the Defense of Taiwan.” Taiwan Insight. January 6, 2021. https://taiwaninsight.org/2021/01/26/military-diplomacy-another-way-to-support-the-defense-of-taiwan/
“Predicting China’s political future: the risky business of betting against the Chinese Communist Party.” Critical Asian Studies. 48:4 (605-613). 2016. DOI: 10.1080/14672715.2016.1237463