Yuan Peng ( zh, s=袁鹏) is a Chinese

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a member of the intelligence field employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a r ...

and political scientist specializing in analysis of the United States for the Ministry of State Security (MSS). He previously headed the 11th bureau of the MSS, commonly known as the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a unit specializing in overt and

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

intelligence collection and international academic outreach. He is considered one of the ministry's foremost analysts on the United States. Yuan is noted for coining the phrase "

great changes unseen in a century Great changes unseen in a century () is a term in Chinese political rhetoric which refers to geopolitical shifts in which the United States is seen as a declining power and in which the rise of populism, economic securitization, and advancing tech ...

" to refer to China's position in contemporary geopolitics. The term has since become a major topic of academic discussion and has been incorporated into the foreign policy discourse of Chinese leader

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

. He is a member of the 14th National Committee of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

. According to media reports, Yuan is now a vice minister of state security under the name Yuan Yikun .

Biography

Yuan Peng, born in 1963, is a Chinese political scientist who has spent most of career studying U.S. politics. Yuan has lived in the United States and been a

visiting fellow In academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of ...

at U.S.

think tanks A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-gov ...

including

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

and the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

. At Brookings, Yuan was a visiting fellow for its Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies. He was a board member of the

Nuclear Threat Initiative The Nuclear Threat Initiative, generally referred to as NTI, is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. NTI was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner and describes itself as a "a nonprofit, ...

. Yuan is a former president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a foreign policy think-tank and the 11th bureau of the Ministry of State Security. During his CICIR presidency, Yuan developed the concept of

holistic national security The concept of holistic national security ( zh, s=总体国家安全观, hp=Zǒngtǐ guójiā ānquán guān), also translated as comprehensive national security, is a principle of national security policy defined by Chinese Communist Party general ...

. Yuan is a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress. According to a Hong Kong media report cited by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

Lianhe Zaobao ''Nanyang Sin-Chew Lianhe Zaobao'', commonly abbreviated as ''Lianhe Zaobao'', is the largest Singaporean Chinese-language newspaper with a daily circulation of about 136,900 (print and digital) as of 2021. Published by SPH Media (formerly ...

'', Yuan is now a Vice Minister of the Ministry of State Security and uses the name Yuan Yikun.

Significant views

Yuan was the first to use the term "great changes unseen in a century" to refer to China's position in contemporary

geopolitics Geopolitics () is the study of the effects of Earth's geography on politics and international relations. Geopolitics usually refers to countries and relations between them, it may also focus on two other kinds of State (polity), states: ''de fac ...

. He began using the term in his essays after the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. It became prominent following the publication of his book ''Changes Unseen in 400 Years: From Westphalia to a New World Order'' and ultimately became a part of

CCP general secretary The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party ...

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

discourse. Yuan's book described the

Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...

as the first major event in the formation of the current world order, followed by the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

and the

Yalta Conference The Yalta Conference (), held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. The three sta ...

. Yuan wrote that the world is now going through a fourth major change as a result of global population change, the advancement of technology through a

Fourth Industrial Revolution "Fourth Industrial Revolution", "4IR", or "Industry 4.0", is a neologism describing rapid technological advancement in the 21st century. It follows the Third Industrial Revolution (the "Information Age"). The term was popularised in 2016 by K ...

, climate change (including energy transitions), and a shift in geopolitical power from the West to the East.

References

{{authority control Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in China Members of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Chinese academics Chinese political scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Vice ministers of state security of the People's Republic of China

Biography

Significant views

See also

References