Xu Zhengyuan is an Associate Professor‌ in the Department of Diplomacy at the ‌School of International Studies, Renmin University of China (RUC) and a ‌Research Fellow‌ at RUC’s ‌Academy of Regional and Country Studies‌. She holds a Doctor of Law degree from RUC and a Ph.D. in Chinese Studies from Aichi University in Japan. She completed her postdoctoral research at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She currently serves as Secretary-General of the European Studies Institute of the Ministry of Education, Academic Member of the South China Sea Strategic Research Center, and Research Fellow at both the China Indo-Pacific Research Institute and the China Overseas Security Research Institute.