My research engages in two major issues in international politics. First, I study the political origins of weapons. My ongoing research looks into why states acquire weapons in the way they do. Because the process of arms production is inherently globalized and securitized, my research posits that states are always bargaining for control overweapons programs in highly inter-connected environments. Security, economic, and techno-industrial factors underwrite the complexities of armaments. My research answers the following questions. When do states engage in domestic production or importation of weapons? When do states successfully launch collaborative programs? When do weapons acquisitions strategies buy autonomy? How do weapons acquisitions affect interstate conflicts?
Second, I also keep a second track of projects that addresses key geopolitical issues in the Indo-Pacific, particularly the relations between the US, China, and Taiwan. This line of research discusses issues such as US military commitment, gray zone coercion, China's territorial disputes, Cross-Strait relations, and public opinion in Taiwan. These articles combine perspectives from the strategic choice in international relations and social psychology. The overarching questions in this line of research are the following: Is a war between the US and China inevitable? If so, how? How do the foreign policy and domestic politics of regional powers affect the great power rivalry in the Indo-Pacific?
In addition ot international politics, I apply social network analysis to a wide array of research themes, including public health. I am especially interested in how actor attributes interact with network environments as well as policy consequences of such interactions.
My research uses a wide range of methods, including social network analysis, regression analysis, public opinion surveys, interviews, and archives.
方淇, 吳重禮. (2021). 社會距離與兩岸關係認知: 臺灣民眾統獨立場的實證分析. 選舉研究, 29(1), 103–148. (Fang, Chi, and Chung-li Wu. (2021). Social Distance and Cross-Strait Relations: Taiwanese Attitudes toward the Independence/Unification Issue, Journal of Electoral Studies, 29(1), 103-148.)
方淇, 吳重禮. (2021). 政府危機處理與施政評價: 論領導人印象對防疫表現評估的影響. 台灣政治學刊, 25(1), 1-50. (Fang, Chi, and Chung-li Wu. (2021). Crisis Management and Government Performance: The Impact of Leader's Impressions on Evaluations of Government Response to Covid-19, Taiwan Political Science Review, 25(1), 1-50.)
Britt Skaathun, Maryam Hussain, Vanessa M D´avila, Eduardo Lopez Ortiz, Roc´ıo Carrasco-Hern´andez, Claudia Garcia-Morales, Francisco Soto, Chi Fang, Margarita Matias-Florentino, Andrea Gonz´alez-Rodr´ıguez, Israel Macias-Gonzalez, Raul A Cruz-Flores, Sanjay R Mehta, Santiago ´ Avila-R´ıos. Forthcoming. Identification of venues for HIV prevention interventions through overlapping HIV transmission and venue elicitation networks. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.
Fang, Chi, Ann M. Dennis, Dalton M. Craven, Annalea Greifinger, Justin Quimbo, Kham S.K. Piang, and Britt Skaathun. Forthcoming. Social Network Isolation and Cohesion and their Association with HIV Clustering among Black and Latino Sexual Minority Men: Implications for Public Health Strategy. Scientific Reports.
Fang, Chi and Lin Pu. 2025. Analyzing China’s Counterproductive Policies toward Taiwan: A Reputational Explanation of Military Threats and External Propaganda. In New Developments in the Trilateral Relationship between the United States, Taiwan, and China, edited by Yao-Yuan Yeh and Charles K.S. Wu (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books)
Fang, Chi and Chung-Li Wu. (2022). Cross-Strait Relations and 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election. In 2020 Taiwanese Presidential Election, edited by Lu-huei Chen (Taipei, Taiwan: Wunan).
Fang, Chi, & Reidy, J (2023). Defense Transparency Stable Among Northeast Asia Powers (For Now). Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.
Chang-Liao, N.-C., & Fang, C. (2021). The Case for Maintaining Strategic Ambiguity in the Taiwan Strait. The Washington Quarterly, 44(2), 45–60.