ARTICLES

Selected Publications

2023

The United States Must Rejoin UNESCO to Compete with China (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The National Interest, March 22, 2023.

A Builder of Bridges: Interview with Dr. Patrick Mendis, Harvard International Review, February 5, 2023.

2022

Making the Indian Ocean into the “Western Ocean:” China’s Long March to Historic Glory, Harvard International Review, October 9, 2022.

Will Biden’s New Truman Doctrine Offset the Sino-Russian Pact? (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The SAIS Review of International Affairs, June 20, 2022.

Will Poland Become a Shining, Democratic American Partner? (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The National Interest, May 16, 2022.

President Xi’s Art of War in Sri Lanka: Will China Subdue the United States without a Fight to Dominate the Indian Ocean, Harvard International Review, March 8, 2022.

Is Beijing Creating a New Sino-Russian World Order: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine Might Change Beijing’s Calculus for Taiwan and the United States  (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz and Lukasz Zamecki), Harvard International Review, March 8, 2022.

2021

Strategic Compass for Poland and the EU: How to Manage the Complexity of Sino-American Rivalry and Russian Aggression Against Ukraine (with Wojciech Michnik), Harvard International Review, December 20, 2021.

Is the Summit for Democracy America’s Solution to the China Challenge? (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The National Interest, December 7, 2021.

The United States Must Rejoin UNESCO for Its Perpectuum Mobile (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), Harvard International Review, July 27, 2021.

How Biden Can Win the Coming Sino-American Digital Duel (with Hon-min Yau), The National Interest, July 27, 2021.

The Power of Autocratic Regimes Amid a Waning Democracy (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The National Interest, July 3, 2021.

The Geopolitics of Water and the New Indo-Pacific Strategy (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), Harvard International Review, March 22, 2021.

The United States Needs India and Taiwan to Counterbalance China: Will the “Milk Tea Alliance” Work? (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The SAIS Review of International Affairs, March 5, 2021.

Taiwan and India Ties: US Can Help Build Better Connections (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), Strategic Vision (Taiwan), vol. 10/51, 2021.

America Has a Perception Problem in the Indo-Pacific Region (with Corey Lee Bell), The National Interest, May 24, 2021.

Target Taiwan: Why China is Desperate for Control of Taipei (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, April 24, 2021.

The Man from Ceylon is the “North Polar Star” for the United States, The Financial Times, June 5, 2021.

Mondale and Me: Former Area Student Remembers Interactions with Vice President, Fergus Falls Journal, June 4, 2021.

The Man from Ceylon, the Lodestar for Our Nation: Remembering Walter Mondale, The Minnesota Post, May 20, 2021.

Glimpse of the Past: Legendary Legislative Clerk Grew Up in Vernon Center, Mankato Free Press, March 27, 2021.

The Trick to Challenging China in the Post-Trump Era (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, March 13, 2021.

The United States Needs India and Taiwan to Counterbalance China: Will the “Milk Tea Alliance” Work? (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), SAIS Review of International Affairs, March 5, 2021.

The Voice of Burdick: The North Star of Our Time, The Minnesota Post, March 3, 2021.

Test of Endurance: Why America Will Stand By India (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The National Interest, February 28, 2021.

Students Can Save America’s Foreign Policy Agenda (with Dominique Reichenbach), Harvard International Review, February 8, 2021.

Damage Control Dilemma: How Can Biden Best Repair America’s Tarnished Image? (with Dominique Reichenbach), The National Interest, January 31, 2021.

China is Touting Its Totalitarianism Taming of the Coronavirus Over US Democratic Failure (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, January 10, 2021.

2020

To Balance China, Joe Biden Should Build Upon Trump’s India Strategy (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), The National Interest, December 27, 2020.

Leave Donald Trump’s Triumphant Taiwan Policy Alone (with Corey Lee Bell), The National Interest, December 12, 2020.

Would Joe Biden Go to War to Stop a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan? (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, November 15, 2020.

The NATO-like Indo-Pacific Alliance has Now Begun in India, The Financial Times, November 14, 2020.

The Evolving ‘Asian NATO’ for the Indo-Pacific Region (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), Colombo Telegraph, November 5, 2020.

Can President Trump’s Top Envoy’s Visit to Sri Lanka offset China’s Art of War? (with Dominique Reichenbach), The Financial Times, November 4, 2020.

Can the United States Leave Behind the Partisan Politics of ‘America First’ in Foreign Relations? (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, November 1, 2020.

What the Timing of the US-India Defence Deal Reveals (with Antonina Łuszczykiewicz), South China Morning Post, October 31, 2020.

Can Pompeo’s Visit to Sri Lanka Offset China’s Influence? (with Dominique Reichenbach), The Diplomat, October 31, 2020.

The Plight of Taiwan and China: Trump is No Reagan for the Vatican, Harvard International Review, October 12, 2020.

Can the United States and the Vatican Help Taiwan to Avoid a War? The National Interest, October 3, 2020.

What the New Tech Cold War Means for Taiwan (with Hon-min Yau), The National Interest, September 20, 2020.

How the Evolving US-China ‘Tech Cold War’ Helps Taiwan (with Hon-min Yau), The National Interest, September 12, 2020.

Why China Is Copying Japan’s Old Plan for Regional Supremacy (with Joey Wang), The Real Clear World (reprint), September 7, 2020.

Why China Is Trying to Copy Japan’s Old Political Plan for Declaring Primacy in Asia (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, September 5, 2020.

South China Sea: ‘Alliance of Democracies’ Ready to Counter Beijing Aggression (with Joey Wang), South China Morning Post, August 8, 2020.

China’s Art of Strategic Incrementalism in the South China Sea (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, August 8, 2020.

China’s State-Owned Enterprises Will Continue in the Post Covid-19 Trade War (with Joey Wang), China-US Focus, July 29, 2020.

The Trump Administration’s Technology Tussle Has Come to Taiwan (with Hon-min Yau), The National Interest, July 12, 2020.

The Cost of Donald Trump’s Kowtow to China’s Xi Jinping (with Dominique Reichenbach), The National Interest, June 27, 2020.

China’s art of war in Sri Lanka (with Dominique Reichenbach), The Financial Times, 24 June 2020.

China’s Art of War in Sri Lanka, (with Dominique Reichenbach), Yahoo News (reprint), June 21, 2020.

COVID-19 Could Force China to Accelerate the Reform of Its State-Owned Enterprises (with Joey Wang), Kennedy School Review, June 12, 2020.

China’s Art of War in Taiwan (with Fu-Kuo Liu), China-US Focus, June 05, 2020.

Sri Lanka and Taiwan: The Two Unsinkable Aircraft Carriers of the Sino-American Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific Theater, The Colombo Telegraph (reprint), June 4, 2020.

Is Sri Lanka just ‘Real Estate’ for the Trump administration? (with Dominique Reichenbach), The Financial Times, June 4, 2020.

Will China’s Premature ‘Coming of Age’ Endanger the Post-Coronavirus World Order? (with Swaran Singh), The National Interest, May 31, 2020.

How China’s Expanding Footprint Puts It on a Collision Course with Trump’s America, Raising the Spectre of a New Cold War (with Swaran Singh), South China Morning Post, May 22, 2020.

A Rendezvous with Destiny for Two Unsinkable Aircraft Carriers, SAIS Review of International Affairs, May 21, 2020.

The Early Casualties of the TAIPEI Act in the Post-Coronavirus World (with Fu-Kuo Liu), The National Interest, May 17, 2020.

Taiwan and Sri Lanka as the Anchors of the Indo-Pacific Strategy of the United States (with Dominique Reichenbach), China-US Focus, May 08, 2020.

Will the Trump White House Make China Great Again in a Post-Pandemic Era? (with Dominique Reichenbach), The National Interest, April 27, 2020.

Is God Punishing Us? (Dominique Reichenbach), The Financial Times, April 10, 2020.

The God of Science: Will China and America Save the World? (with Dominique Reichenbach), The Colombo Telegraph, April 4, 2020.

How China Made the Coronavirus Worse (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, March 29, 2020.

Made in China: Virus Chaos Could’ve Been Avoided (with Joey Wang), The Real Clear Politics (reprint), March 9, 2020.

Made in China: Coronavirus Chaos Could Have Been Avoided (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, March 7, 2020.

The Three Mistakes the Chinese Government has Made in Its Mishandling of the Coronavirus Crisis (with Joey Wang), South China Morning Post, February 19, 2020.

Does The Trump White House Make China the Force for Good in The Middle East? The Financial Tiems, February 6, 2020.

Divinely Divided: Trump and the Mandate of Heaven, Harvard International Review, January 31, 2020.

The Political Hijacking of Religious Principles, The National Interest, January 27, 2020.

The Trump White House and the Hidden Power of Christian Evangelicals: Has China’s Mandate of Heaven been Now Bestowed Upon America? Foreign Policy News, January 23, 2020.

2019

Are the American drafters of the Blue Dot Network (BDN) clueless? (with Joey Wang), The Financial Times, December 19, 2019.

Washington’s Blue Dot Network (BDN): Missing the Mark on its Counter-China Strategy (with Joey Wang), China-US Focus, December 18, 2019.

Why the White House Has Its Eyes Wide Shut on China (with Joey Wang), Yahoo News (reprint), December 8, 2019.

Why the White House has Its Eyes Wide Shut on China (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, December 8, 2019.

Mongolia is Seeking Greener Pastures with the US and India to Balance China’s Influence (with Itgelt Bat-ochir), South China Morning Post, November 17, 2019.

Are India and China ‘Frenemies’ in Geopolitics or Geo-Economics? (with Joey Wang), The Financial Times, November 11, 2019.

The Emergence of Sino-Indian “Frenemy” Relations: How the Titans of Corporations Drive Geopolitics (with Joey Wang), China-US Focus, November 1, 2019.

Why India and China Need to Stay Friends: It’s All about the Economy (with Joey Wang), South China Morning Post, October 31, 2019.

Unveiling China’s Grand Plan: How America is Waging a Futile War with Other Means, Harvard International Review, June 17, 2019.

The Confucian and Jeffersonian Ideals in the United States, China-US Focus, April 25, 2019.

The US Should Keep Its Universities Open to Chinese Students and Organisations — Education is the Best Weapon in Promoting Democracy, South China Morning Post, April 11, 2019.

Will History Repeat Itself With President Trump’s Trade War with China”, The Oxford University Politics Blog, March 29, 2019

President Trump Looked for the Failed Idea of a Wall, The Financial Times (reprint), February 16 2019.

President Trump’s Wall is Inimical to America’s Philosophic Empire, Salon (reprint), February 6, 2019.

Benjamin Franklin, Wall Builder: Trump’s Role Model? The Globalist, February 6, 2019.

China’s Era of Debt-Trap Diplomacy May Pave the Way for Something Sinister (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, February 3, 2019.

How America is Waging a Futile War with China by Other Means (with Joey Wang), The National Interest, February 2, 2019.

History Shows America Should Build Bridges, Not Walls, China-US Focus, January 31, 2019.

Decoding China’s Grand Plan (with Joey Wang), China-US Focus, January 31, 2019.

From Taiwan to the Belt and Road, China’s ‘Grand Plan’ is to Push the US Out of Asia (with Joey Wang), South China Morning Post, January 23, 2019.

2018

Buddhist Insights on Human Rights for the Holy See, the United States, and China, Colombo Telegraph, November 17, 2018.

The Problem with America’s “Transactional” Presidency (with Joey Wang), China-US Focus, June 7, 2018.

China’s Quest for Soft Power: Where Confucius has Failed, the Buddha May Succeed, South China Morning Post, June 1, 2018.

China is Learning from American Trade Strategies for Its Own Development, Financial Times, May 23, 2018.

How China Plans to Dominate the Global Economy: Copy America, The National Interest, May 20, 2018.

Will the Wuhan ‘Reset’ Lead to ‘Asian Century’? The Jakarta Post, May 16, 2018.

China will Improve Its IPR Protection-But Not as a Result of US Pressure (with Joey Wang), South China Morning Post, May 16, 2018.

Will the Wuhan “Reset” in Sino-Indian Ties Lead to an “Asian Century”?: China Daily Contributor, The Straits Times, May 15, 2018.

The Xi-Modi Summit: A New “Pacific” Asian Century Without America?, The Globalist, May 6, 2018.

The Xi-Modi “Chindia Reset” Summit: A New “Pacific” Asian Century? Qrius, The Indian Economist, May 3, 2018.

A New Beginning for China-India Relations Could Transform Asia, South China Morning Post, May 1, 2018.

Journey to the Colombo Lotus Tower, Financial Times, March 30, 2018.

Belt and Road, or a Chinese Dream for the Return of Tributary States? Sri Lanka Offers a Cautionary Tale (with Joey Wang), South China Morning Post, January 9, 2018.

2017

Corporate and Educational Entities Need to Develop Networks (an Interview), Sunday Observer, November 26, 2017.

The BRI and the Buddhist Kingdom of Lanka, Sunday Observer, November 12, 2017.

Here Is Why China May Be Moving towards ‘Confucian Democracy’, The National Interest, November 7, 2017.

Trump and America’s China Problem, The Globalist, November 7, 2017.

Decoding President Xi’s Thought for America’s Global Leadership, China-US Focus, November 6, 2017.

The Problem of President Trump and His Chinese Tutor on North Korea, Minnesota Post, November 3, 2017.

Why Xi Jinping’s China Model is About Both Material and Spiritual Rejuvenation, South China Morning Post, October 29, 2017.

Why China-US Trade Conflicts Won’t End in War: No Matter How Loud the Threats (with Sheng Cui), South China Morning Post, September 15, 2017.

The Past as Prologue in Sino-Sri Lankan Intercourse: How the Colombo Lotus Tower Becomes a “Buddhist Way” to Navigate Geopolitical Rivalry Between China and India, Harvard International Review, September 14, 2017.

Can Sino-US Ties Overcome “Thucydides Trap”? History Offers Insights, Global Times, July 3, 2017. (Click here for PDF; for the Chinese version, click here).

East or West: A Better Life is Dream for All, Shanghai Daily, June 30, 2017. (Click here for PDF).

How Donald Trump Betrayed American Values and Jeffersonian Legacy with Trip to Saudi Arabia, South China Morning Post, June 1, 2017.

America’s Anti-Democracy Message to the World, The Globalist, May 27, 2017.

The Lotus Tower and Buddhist Diplomacy, Financial Times, May 16, 2017.

Peace and War in Sino-America: Forget the Headlines and Follow the Trendlines for a Better World (with Joey Wang), Harvard International Review, May 2, 2017.

Trump’s “America first” and Xi Jinping’s “China first”: How Different are They? South China Morning Post, April 14, 2017 (Reprinted, click here for PDF).

The Future of American “Trumpire” As If China Mattered, China-US Focus, April 11, 2017.

Sino-American Trade Relations: The Rhetoric Needs to Match the Reality (with Joey Wang), Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, March 31, 2017.

As Trump Leads a China Revolution in the Heartland, the Midwest Soybean Makes the Middle Kingdom Great Again, Minnesota Post, (Reprinted) March 8, 2017.

From Tea to Soybeans: Trade Ensures China and the US are Inextricably Linked, South China Morning Post, March 5, 2017.

Why America Can’t Afford to Get Into a Trade War with China (with Joey Wang), National Interest, March 3, 2017.

America’s Mutually Assured Prosperity (MAP) Doctrine, China-US Focus, February 16, 2017.

President Trump and the Sino-American DNA, Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, February 1, 2017.

Commerce is Destiny: Revival of Silk Road Civilization and Sino-American Relations, China International Studies, January-February, 2017.

Is China on the Road to International Isolation? (with Dániel Balázs), The Diplomat, January 21, 2017.

“Beautiful Country” But Dispensable? China-US Focus, January 16, 2017.

2016

Will Donald Trump Make China Great Again? South China Morning Post, December 14, 2016.

President Xi’s Silk Road Conundrum (with Dániel Balázs), China-US Focus, October 24, 2016.

Sino-US Relations: For China and the US, Bound by Trade, Great Power Brings Great Responsibility (with Sheng Cui), South China Morning Post, October 11, 2016.

Will Sri Lanka be the Flagship Nation of a New Dynamic? (with Dániel Balázs), The Globalist, May 8, 2016.

Who Can Contain China When U.S. Policy Fails? (with Joey Wang), The Globalist, May 1, 2016.

Interview of Patrick Mendis: A Discussion of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy Under President Maithripala Sirisena, The Diplomat, April 30, 2016.

The Eagle and the Dragon, Harvard International Review, April 21, 2016.

When the TPP and One Belt, One Road Meet (with Dániel Balázs), East Asia Forum, April 26, 2016.

Why the US will Gain Nothing from Seeking to Contain China (with Joey Wang), South China Morning Post, April 26, 2016.

2015

Colombo Consensus 2.0: The new Sri Lankan Government is Re-balancing Its Foreign Policy, Drifting Away from China’s Orbit Toward a More Equidistant Engagement with India and the United States (with Dániel Balázs), Foreign Policy, October 1, 2015.

China’s Manifest Destiny in America: Will Beijing and Washington Create a New Commercial Civilization to Benefit All? Harvard International Review, June 8, 2015.

2014

Chinese, American, or Pacific Dream (with Gary Schwarz), China Daily, November 13, 2014.

Beijing’s Menlou Doctrine: If it Was Good for America, Should It be Good for China, Harvard International Review (click here for PDF file), November 6, 2014.

A ‘Cool’ War, Beijing Review, June 23, 2014.

The Impending “Peaceful War” Between China and America Over Cyber-spying, Huffington Post, June 5, 2014.

Chinese Behavior in Asian Seas Driven by Monroe Doctrine of Its Own, South China Morning Post, (reprint), May 26, 2014.

China Follows America’s Monroe Doctrine as Obama Pursues a Policy of Ambiguity, Minnesota Post, May 21, 2014.

Creating a Commercial Civilization, Beijing Review, May 1, 2014.

The Empress of China Inaugurated the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Huffington Post, March 21, 2014.

2013

Birth of a Pacific Order, Harvard International Review, April 9, 2013.

How Washington’s Asia Pivot and the TPP can Benefit Sino–American Relations, East Asia Forum, March 6, 2013.

Selected Book Chapters

United States of America (chapter)  in The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lankan Diaspora (Peter Reeves, ed.), Singapore, March 2014.

Dealing With Emerging Powers: US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement, (with Leah Green), Project on National Security Reform (Richard Weitz, ed.), Washington, DC., 2009.

Public Policy Interventions, Market Economics, and Income Distribution in The End of the Asian Model? (Holger Henke and Ian Boxill, eds.), Amsterdam, 2000.

Selected Journal Articles

China’s Buddhist Diplomacy: Why Do America and India Entangle with Tiny Sri Lanka? Columbia Journal of International Affairs, February, 2013.

The Voice of the House: Edward Burdick and the Evolution of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Minnesota History Quarterly, Winter 2012.

Destiny of the Pearl: How Sri Lanka’s Colombo Consensus Trumped Beijing and Washington in the Indian Ocean, Yale Journal of International Affairs, September 2012. (click here for the PDF file).

Security for Sale: The Great Game of the US-Indian Civil Nuclear Cooperation Treaty and Its Implications for China and Pakistan (with Leah Green), The SAIS Europe Journal, April 1, 2012.

The Colombo-Centric New Silk Road, Economic & Political Weekly (India), December, 2012.

The Sri Lankan Silk Road: The Potential War Between China and the United States, Harvard International Review, November 30, 2012.

Government-wide Collaboration to Boost National Trade (with Leah Green), The Public Manager, January 15, 2010.

Globalization: Our Connected World, Lanka Monthly Digest, February 2008.

Chindia: Does Culture Matter in Hindu and Confucian Economies? (with Leah Green), Global Economic Review, December 2008.

Confucian Economics at Work in Korean Unification, The SAIS Observer, Johns Hopkins University, June 2007.

New Multilateralism in Action for Peace: A Case Study of the US-led Operation Unified Assistance in the Asian Tsunami Disaster (with US Air Force Captain Jaime Alvarado), Global Economic Review,  June 2007.

Evaluation of World Bank Policy Analysis: The East Asian Economic Miracle and Poverty Alleviation Policies in Sri Lanka, Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, Winter-Spring 2006.

Americanization of Globalization: Is the United States the Un-centralized World Power for Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness? The Public Manager, Fall 2005.

Science, Technology, and Intellectual Property Rights in American Foreign Policy, Journal of Technology Law & Policy, June 2004.

Food Security, Subsidies, Energy, and the Environment, Energy & Environment, 2001.

Samples of Newspaper Articles

The Empress of China Inaugurated the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Huffington Post, March 21, 2014.

US-Pacific Grand Vision Could Greatly Affect Minnesota Trade, Minnesota Post, March 4, 2014.

What Does the China Dream Really Mean? South China Morning Post, March 14, 2013.

How Washington’s Asia Pivot and the TPP can Benefit Sino–American Relations, East Asia Forum, March 6, 2013.

Chinese Renaissance Man is Touched by America’s Heartland, Minnesota Post, November 10, 2012.

Will Xi’s Ascension Herald Political Reform? South China Morning Post, November 9, 2012.

US Must Stop China-Bashing: Take a Leaf from Lanka’s History, Sunday Times, October 28, 2012.

China-Bashing Doesn’t Match US Values, Global Times, October 25, 2012 (reprint).

China-Bashing Rhetoric Like Romney’s is Counterproductive, Minnesota Post, October 23, 2012.

Religious Faith and Public Life: Reflections on Edward Burdick’s Life, Minnesota Post, March 14, 2012.

His Position was Local; His Reach, Worldwide, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), March 18, 2011.

Crossing Paths: US’s Past, China’s Future, China Daily (Beijing), September 3, 2009.

A Student’s Memory of Harlan Cleveland, Minnesota Post, June 9, 2008 (See also in Washington Post, June 6, 2008).

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