Research team

Simon Menet is a Research Fellow at the Fondation pour la recherche stratégique (FRS) and a PhD candidate in Political Science at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco). His research focuses on China’s foreign and security policy, strategic issues in Southeast Asia, as well as environmental crime. He has advised senior officials at the Ministry of Armed Forces, the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security (SGDSN), and the French Development Agency (AFD).

Before joining FRS, Simon worked at the DC-based think tank, Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), as well as at the French Defense Attaché Office in Thailand and at the Embassy of France in China. He holds an MSc in China Studies from King’s College London and an MSc in International Security and Defense from Lyon 3 University. He also studied at the University of Texas at Austin and attended a Chinese language program at National Taiwan University.

Publications

• "La place de l’ASEAN en Indo-Pacifique", Carnets de Vols, n°144, 2023.
• "Gilded Shadows: Unveiling the Role of Chinese Trading Posts and Transnational Networks in Fueling Illegal Gold Mining in French Guiana", avec Antoine Bondaz, FRS, Recherche & Documents, n°13/2023, 25 September 2023.
• "Protéger, contrôler et façonner : la stratégie de la Chine dans le Mékong", FRS, Recherche & Documents, n°07/2023, 2 June 2023.
• "Le jeu d'influence de la Chine en Asie du Sud-Est", Diplomatie, April-May 2023.
• "La coopération policière au service des ambitions sécuritaires chinoises en Indo-Pacifique", Conflits, 6 April 2023.
• "Terrain minier. Une expansion à risque des intérêts chinois en Guinée", FRS, Recherche & Documents, n°09/2022, 3 August 2022.

Conferences

• "Entre captation et prédation des ressources minières, le rôle ambigu de la Chine en Afrique", IRSEM-FRS, 26 September 2023.
• "Orpaillage illégal en Guyane française : le rôle moteur des acteurs chinois" (web conférence), FRS, 19 September 2023.
• "Mer de Chine méridionale : un espace pluriel aux enjeux globaux", Institut EGA (Sénat), May 2023.
• "La politique étrangère de la Chine dans sa périphérie : le cas de l'Asie du Sud-Est", Sciences Po Strasbourg, April 2023.
• "Navigating the Indo-Pacific: Dealing with Geopolitical and Security Shifts in the Region", Europeum (Prague), March 2022.
• "Influences extérieures : La Chine et les Routes de la Soie", IHEDN, October 2021.

Contribution

• Ben Spevack et al., "Zoned Out", C4ADS, 2021.