Professional Affiliation

Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

Expert Bio

Dr. Zongyuan Zoe Liu is the Maurice R. Greenberg Senior Fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York City. Her work focuses on international finance, sovereign wealth funds, industrial policies, and the geoeconomics of energy transition. Her regional expertise is in East Asia and the Middle East. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press, February 2022) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press, June 2023). The book Sovereign Funds is the 2024 Winner of the PROSE Award in Business, Finance, and Management. 

Dr. Liu teaches in the capacity of an adjunct faculty at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) of Columbia University and Columbia Business School. Dr. Liu is a columnist for Foreign Policy. She is also a regular contributor to policy-relevant journals and newspapers, such as Foreign Affairs, The International Economy, Newsweek, and The Washington Post. Her research has been featured in The Economist, Financial Times, The Guardian, New York Times, Reuters, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. 

Prior to joining CFR, Dr. Liu was an assistant professor at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, DC. She joined the Bush School after post-doctoral fellowships at the Columbia-Harvard “China and the World Program” and the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. 

Dr. Liu received her PhD in international relations from Johns Hopkins University. She is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder. Her paper on BRICS Collective De-dollarization Statecraft received the 2021 Best Paper Award from the International Studies Association (West).

Wilson Center Project

Debunk the Myth: China’s Real Role and Progress in the Global Dedollarization Movement

Project Summary

Zoe’s project investigates China’s evolving strategies to promote a renminbi-based global financial system and its implications for U.S.-China competition and global financial system. This research is vital for understanding emerging challenges for continued U.S. leadership and global financial stability. It aims to clarify the conceptual and policy differences among renminbi internationalization, de-dollarization, and financial sanction mitigation. Findings from this project will provide U.S. policymakers with a robust framework to continue monitoring and assessing China’s intention and capability to challenge the U.S.-dominated global financial system, providing actionable insights to develop strategies to strengthen U.S. financial statecraft and global financial leadership.