Research team

Fields of expertise

Philippe Le Corre is a specialist on China’s interactions with the world (especially Europe, Eurasia and the US), EU-China relations, competition in the Asia-Pacific region, and Chinese overseas investments.

Professional experience

Philippe Le Corre was previously a senior research fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School (Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs). He also worked for two major Washington-based foreign policy think-tanks, the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

He served as a special assistant for international affairs to the French Defense minister, and as a senior policy adviser on Asia within the French Ministry of Defense’s Directorate for international relations and strategy.

Philippe Le Corre has testified multiple times before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs, the French Senate and the French National Assembly on the topic of Chinese investment and influence in Europe and has consulted with many governments and multinational companies on four continents.

Other ongoing activities

Philippe Le Corre is also a Professor of geopolitics (affiliate) with ESSEC Business School as well as a senior research fellow with the ESSEC Institute for Research and Education on Negotiation (Irene), where he runs the Asia Program. In addition, he serves as a senior fellow with the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis and as a senior adviser on geopolitics to Asia Society France. He has been an associate in research with Harvard University’s John K. Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

He writes a column for Ouest-France, the top-read French language daily newspaper in the world, and the business daily Les Echos. He also appears regularly on CNBC, CNN, RFI, NPR, FRANCE 24, WION TV and other media outlets.

Education

Philippe Le Corre graduated in Asian Studies from the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) and in Political Science from Paris 1 University. He was selected in 2003 as an International Affairs Fellow by Harvard University, and as an Arthur Sachs Scholar.

He is the author or co-author of seven books and monographies on Chinese affairs and many other publications including:

• Europe’s China Challenge: The Narrow Path for France, Germany and the EU (Asia Society Policy Institute, 2023);
• Does the rise of China threaten the transatlantic relationship?, in China Questions 2 (Harvard University Press, 2022);
• China’s influence in Southeastern, Eastern and Central European countries: Vulnerabilities and Resilience (Carnegie, 2021);
• European and American approaches towards Chinese Foreign Direct Investment. Opportunities, challenges, and policy responses in Europe in an era of growing Sino-American Competition (Routledge, 2021);
• L’Offensive chinoise en Europe (Fayard, 2015).

His articles have appeared in publications such as Asia-Europe Journal, China Perspectives, China Economic Quarterly, Etudes, Commentaire, Revue de Défense Nationale, Foreign Affairs, National Interest and Foreign Policy