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    Dr. Ori Sela is a senior visiting researcher at the Israel-China Policy Center - The Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation at the INSS. He is also a senior lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Department of East Asian Studies at Tel Aviv University, of which he served as Chair until late 2022. He specializes in the history of Early-Modern and Modern China, and is interested particularly in the reciprocal relationship between intellectual history and socio-political history at various crossroads in China's past, as well as in the history of science and technology, military history, and China's international relations. The transition from China's imperial era into the nation-state building of the twentieth century, along with the crucial roles history has played and continues to play in current affairs, is another facet of his research and teaching, specifically as it pertains to contemporary China.

    In the past 7 years, he has been leading a project on China in the Middle East in collaboration with the Dayan Center at TAU. Sela earned his PhD from Princeton University, published in leading academic journals, and his 2018 book (Columbia University Press) was awarded the renowned 2020 Levenson Prize. His most recent book (edited with Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Joshua Fogel) deals with the significance of Sinology for understanding modern China (University of Hawai'i, 2023).

    Ori  Sela
    Ori Sela
    Visiting Senior Researcher
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    INSS Insight
    Tensions Around Taiwan: Summary of 2024
    Unusual military maneuvers, extreme statements, and a new president in Taipei: Tensions between Taiwan and China have escalated over the past year. What can recent events tell us about what lies ahead with Trump in the White House?
    1 April, 2025
    INSS Insight
    China, Syria, and the Middle East—A Current Perspective
    Has China’s policy truly suffered a blow with Israel’s damage to the “Axis of Resistance” and the rebels’ success in toppling Assad’s regime in Syria?
    26 December, 2024
    INSS Insight
    Technological Developments in China’s Military Forces: Insights From the 2024 Zhuhai Airshow
    Conclusions from the main international event in the fields of aviation and space, which serves as clear evidence of China’s aspiration to lead in the areas of defense, space, and industry in the 21st century
    24 December, 2024
    INSS Insight
    China and the Houthis: Sounds of Silence
    Although the terrorist attacks by the Houthis in Yemen threaten Chinese ships and harm Chinese commercial interests, Beijing has remained silent about these incidents and refuses to join the international effort to guarantee freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. Why?
    10 January, 2024
    INSS Insight
    India, Japan, and Swords of Iron: Asia’s Strategic Importance
    How do these economic giants view Israel’s war against Hamas, and why should Israel invest public diplomacy efforts in Indian and Japanese audiences?
    9 November, 2023
    Strategic Assessment
    Taiwan between the Superpowers: Strategic Thinking, Historical Background, and Major Trends until 2016
    Taiwan, and the complex, tense relations that surround it, is considered a significant “hot spot” in the global arena. The more the competition between the two major superpowers, the United States and China, escalates in the Asian or Indo-Pacific arenas, the more the tension surrounding the issue of Taiwan intensifies, the rhetoric grows extreme, and the actions of the two sides form a new status quo that threatens to be replaced overnight by real warfare. To understand the events surrounding the Strait of Taiwan, this article examines the reasons for the strategic importance of the controversial island; reviews Taiwan’s historical background as reflected in US-China relations; and highlights the “third Formosa crisis” (1995-1996). In doing so, it maps the primary trends and prominent changes that occurred in the dispute over the island until 2016, which marks the beginning of a new era in these relations.