experts
Isaac B. Kardon
Senior Fellow, Asia Program

about

Isaac B. Kardon, Ph.D., (孔适海博士) is a senior fellow for China studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is concurrently adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and was formerly assistant professor at the U.S. Naval War College (NWC), where he served as a research faculty member in the China Maritime Studies Institute.

Isaac’s research centers on the People’s Republic of China’s maritime power, with specialization in maritime disputes and the international law of the sea, Chinese global port development, China-Pakistan relations, and the People’s Liberation Army’s overseas basing. His writing appears in International Security, Security Studies, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, the Naval War College Review, as well as other scholarly and policy publications. Isaac’s book, China’s Law of the Sea: The New Rules of Maritime Order (Yale, 2023) analyzes whether and how China is “making the rules” of regional and global order.

At Carnegie, Isaac is building on his foundation of research on China in the maritime domain to explore China’s role in the wider global commons. High seas, deep seabed, polar regions, and orbital space are among the “strategic frontier issues” prioritized by China’s leadership—and thus key sites to observe China’s interests in and influence on vital global rules, norms, and standards. China’s interest in leading the nascent regime for deep sea mining is a particular area of research focus. He is also continuing “past the pier” on his existing stream of research on PRC ports to further study China’s development of transport and communications infrastructure networks with dual civilian and military functions.

Isaac earned a Ph.D. in government from Cornell University, an M.Phil in modern Chinese studies from Oxford University, and a B.A. in history from Dartmouth College. He was a China & the World post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University, and has held visiting appointments at NYU School of Law, Academia Sinica, and the PRC National Institute for South China Sea Studies. He studied Chinese (Mandarin) at Peking University, Tsinghua University, Hainan University, and National Taiwan Normal University.

affiliations
education
PhD, Government, Cornell University, MPhil, Modern Chinese Studies, Oxford University, BA, History, Dartmouth College
languages
Chinese, English, Italian, Spanish

All work from Isaac B. Kardon

filters
24 Results
Shipping cranes and a cargo ship stacked with containers
commentary
Californian Perspectives on China, National Security, and U.S. Critical Infrastructure

Californians recognize the vulnerability of the state’s critical infrastructure—especially its ports.

· October 30, 2024
event
Understanding China’s Strategic Path to Great Power Status
October 23, 2024

Thirty years ago, the idea that China could challenge the United States economically, globally, and militarily seemed unfathomable. Yet today, China is considered a great power. How did China manage to build power in an international system that was largely dominated by the United States? What factors determined the strategies Beijing pursued to achieve this feat?

In The Media
in the media
The Chinese Armada

While Beijing claims most of the sea as its territorial waters, international courts have ruled against those claims as overly broad. But that hasn’t stopped it from continuing to seize reefs and, in some cases, build military bases on them. Why is China doing this?

· October 1, 2024
The Signal
research
U.S. Maritime Trade and Port Cybersecurity: Shoring Up Maritime Cybersecurity - Enhancing Cybersecurity and Resilience

Ports are critical infrastructure, and are crucial to a functioning U.S. economy. Their digital dependence introduces vulnerabilities that, in the event of a cyberattack or an accident, could cripple U.S. economic activity

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  • Isaac Kardon
  • Timothy Varley
  • Tom Ewing
  • Daniel B
  • Marisa B
  • Lee Kim
  • Nicholas K
  • Katie L
  • Sara Traylor
  • Samuel Greene
  • Nick Reese
  • Emma Ashooh
· September 18, 2024
Department of Homeland Security
book
Great Power Competition and Overseas Bases: Chinese, Russian, and American Force Posture in the Twenty-First Century

This book examines the emerging dynamics of geostrategic competition for overseas military bases and base access.

· August 27, 2024
This undated picture shows a nuclear-powered submarine of the People's Liberation Army Navy's North Sea Fleet preparing to dive into the sea.
testimony
Combating the Gray Zone: Examining Chinese Threats to the Maritime Domain

So-called “gray zone” activities or tactics are recognizable and controversial elements of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) strategy in maritime East Asia.

· June 4, 2024
House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security
In The Media
in the media
How China Will Squeeze, Not Seize, Taiwan

China’s patient, long-term Taiwan policy, together with its modest record of military action abroad, suggests that Beijing’s more probable plan is to gradually intensify the policy it is already pursuing: a creeping encroachment into Taiwan’s airspace, maritime space, and information space. 

· May 22, 2024
Foreign Affairs
In The Media
in the media
Playing Both Sides of the U.S.-Chinese Rivalry

Where countries are using Chinese national security concepts, tactics, and technologies to suppress human rights and tighten authoritarian control, Washington cannot and should not compete to advance the same goals.

· March 15, 2024
Foreign Affairs
event
Can the United States and Europe Coordinate Counter-Coercion With Taiwan?
March 13, 2024

Most debates about Chinese coercion of Taiwan focus on invasion, and how an international coalition including the United States and Europe might respond. But China’s coercive toolkit is vast and includes both kinetic and non-kinetic measures that fall well short of these dire scenarios.

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In The Media
in the media
China’s Law of the Sea in the Middle East

A discussion on China’s maritime dynamics.

· March 6, 2024
China-MENA Podcast (Atlantic Council)