Fellowship Application Deadlines, New Publications, & More!
The Oxford China Policy Lab Newsletter
Dear friends and colleagues,
One of the guiding goals of OCPL is to create and implement ideas that mitigate broader risks stemming from U.S.-China technology competition, with a strong focus on third countries. We do this by breaking down silos between policymakers, industry leaders, and the academic community and extracting key actionable insights from their expertise.
To this end, we co-hosted a private roundtable discussion with the Changing Character of War Centre’s Emerging Threats Group at the University of Oxford on subsea telecommunications cables after the release of the New York Principles in September. Proposed by the United States during meetings surrounding the 79th annual United National General Assembly, the Principles were framed as a “newfound commitment to collaborative action for ensuring undersea cable security and resilience” and were signed by the UK, EU, Canada, and more than 15 other UN Member states. The protocols prompted strong reactions from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, which claimed that the U.S. was unfairly targeting Chinese firms with a continuation of its “small yard, high fence” approach.
Four key lessons emerged from the discussion:
Relevance: Telecommunications cables are of key geostrategic relevance for countries’ capacities to develop and deploy frontier AI technologies, access hyperscale cloud computing services, and maintain existing infrastructure for information and communication technologies that form the backbone of modern society.
New Developments: The New York Principles demonstrated intentions to exclude ‘high risk’ vendors from future cable projects, likely limiting the access of Chinese vendors over security, privacy, and transparency concerns.
Polarization: U.S.–China competition in the undersea cable industry is moving in the direction of internet fragmentation between Chinese and U.S. allied blocs, with a likely outcome of driving up the costs of digital services and leading to delays in obtaining permits for future digital infrastructure projects.
Vulnerability: 95% of global cable systems lay in international waters, falling out of any country’s jurisdiction and responsibility. This adds to the vulnerabilities caused by polarization.
We are immensely grateful to those who took part in the panel:
Discussion lead: Anniki Mikelsaar, DPhil Candidate, University of Oxford; 2024 OCPL Fellow
Leigh Frame, COO of Xtera: Subsea Networks; former COO of Alcatel Submarine Networks
John Tibbles, Director of Operations of the SubOptic Foundation
Samuel Byers, Senior National Security Advisor, Centre for Maritime Strategy
Professor Christian Bueger, the foremost academic on maritime governance; author of Understanding Maritime Security, published by the Oxford University Press in 2024.
Through rigorous research, cross-sectoral and cross-cultural exchange, and an emphasis on cultivating expertise spanning technical and geopolitical complexities, we can illuminate and work toward mitigating potentially negative effects of great power competition in the technology sphere.
Warm Regards,
The OCPL Team
Upcoming Fellowship Deadlines
The time to apply for the third round of the OCPL Fellowship is now! Applications for team leads are due on November 1 (today) and applications for fellows are due on November 8.
The fellowship aims to amplify fellows’ existing work and expertise, help them create original, rigorous research and policy outputs, connect them to key stakeholders in the field, and increase their literacy on pressing problems at the intersection of US-China relations and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, as well as other pressing global issues.
For the 2025 cohort, we are recruiting fellows and team leads whose research falls into one of three categories:
Implications, development, and governance of artificial intelligence (AI);
Semiconductor supply chains, digital and critical national infrastructures, economic and technological statecraft; or
Other pressing problems connected to China and US-China relations, including conflict risks and forms of mitigation, as well as China-facing capabilities and talent pipelines.
Our Activities
Kayla Blomquist co-authored a policy paper titled “Voice and Access in AI: Global AI Majority Participation in Artificial Intelligence Development and Governance” through the Oxford Martin School AI Governance Initiative. The article examined potential methods of increasing access to AI governance and capabilities for the Global AI Majority — countries in Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe — while addressing the security and commercial concerns of frontier AI states.
Scott Singer authored a commentary titled “How the UK Should Engage China at AI’s Frontier” that argued that the British Foreign Secretary’s visit to China would present a valuable opportunity for the two countries to interact on an issue where their national security interests are aligned: risks associated with advanced AI systems that can be misused by nonstate actors or go rogue.
Kayla Blomquist will participate in a panel discussion on technological advancement following a talk by Jeffrey Ding on his new book, Technology and the Rise of Great Powers: How Diffusion Shapes Economic Competition. The event will take place on November 26 at the Oxford Martin School. Be sure to register to reserve your seat:
Welcoming Our New Non-Resident Expert: Margaret Siu
Margaret is a Technology and Security Policy Fellow at the RAND Corporation, specializing in compute governance, national security, and international economic law. Prior to joining RAND, Siu worked at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), where she supported international trade law and export control efforts within the Corporate and Compliance Legal Department. She has researched financial regulation for Andrew Cainey, worked as an advisor to the Rt Hon Tony Blair, and studied critical supply chains at CSIS. In addition, she founded Apricity Magazine, an international arts journal exploring soft power through cultural exchange, and acquired Analecta, the former official arts publication of the University of Texas at Austin. Presently, Siu is a J.D. candidate Harvard Law School, where she is a Research Assistant for Professor Lawrence Lessig on AI governance. Previously, she earned dual master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar.
Meet our Fellows: Anniki Mikelsaar
Anniki is a DPhil Information, Communication, and Social Sciences student and a Shirley Scholar at the Oxford Internet Institute. She previously completed an MPhil in History at the University of Oxford and an undergraduate degree at Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics (LSE). Anniki has conducted research at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). She speaks Estonian, English, French, and some Mandarin Chinese
What are your research interests?
I am looking at digital infrastructure governance, now more specifically interested in public-private partnership dynamics
What is an aspect of the China policy space you’d like to learn more about?
If I had a crystal ball and could learn the outcome of U.S. elections ahead of November, and how that will influence the direction of UK-EU-China relations, that would be quite interesting.
What are you currently reading?
Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea.
What’s one item you can’t live without?
My college puffer jacket, essential bracing now for British winter :)