Ties Dams

Ties Dams is an Associate Fellow at the Clingendael Research, having joined in 2019 to help set-up the Clingendael China Centre. His research focuses on grand strategy, international political thought, Europe-China relations, and the geopolitics of the Silk Road. In 2018 he published the first Dutch language monograph on the life and rule of president Xi Jinping, titled De Nieuwe Keizer (“The New Emperor”). It quickly became a bestseller. He frequently appears on radio and TV as a geopolitical expert. He lectures on grand strategy at the University of Amsterdam and is a popular public speaker.

Ties studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Utrecht University (BA, magna cum laude), Mandarin in Hong Kong, Xiamen and Beijing, and Political Theory at University College London (MA). At university, he was a visiting researcher at Clingendael, writing on China’s international ideological strategy. Since then, he worked in various capacities for Dutch government. Next to his position at Clingendael, he runs his own strategic advisory firm, Aleph. His clients are, amongst others, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Ties speaks English (fluent), Mandarin (conversational).