David Sacks is a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where his work focuses on U.S.-Taiwan relations, U.S.-China relations, Chinese foreign policy, cross-strait relations, and the political thought of Hans Morgenthau. He directed the CFR independent task force on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, chaired by Jack Lew and Gary Roughead.

Prior to joining CFR, Sacks worked on political military affairs at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which handles the full breadth of the United States’ relationship with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties. Sacks was also a Princeton in Asia fellow in Hangzhou, China.

He received his master’s degree in international relations and international economics, with honors, from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). At SAIS, he was the recipient of the A. Doak Barnett Award, given annually to the most distinguished China Studies graduate. Sacks received his bachelor of arts in political science from Carleton College.

“We have to reckon with a much more assertive, aggressive China under Xi Jinping… our policy of strategic ambiguity will not serve us well in the coming decades.”