Jean Dong

Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School; author of Chinese Statecraft in a Changing World

Julien played a pivotal role as development editor on my book on Chinese statecraft. He brought deep cross-cultural insight, helping me better appreciate the interaction between different cultural and intellectual traditions, particularly between China and Europe. His interventions were thoughtful and well-judged: never intrusive, but consistently clarifying. He has a rare ability to move seamlessly between the high-level architecture of an argument and its finer details, which proved essential in shaping the structure and coherence of the book. He was never simply an editor, but a true intellectual partner, elevating both the work and my own thinking to a greater level of maturity.

Our collaboration has extended well beyond the book. Julien has a distinctive way of reinforcing one’s commitment to the questions that truly matter: those that are large, difficult, and consequential. I have continued to rely on his judgment when navigating complex partnerships in the transnational AI safety space. What I find most distinctive is his capacity to move across all layers of a problem at once, from its philosophical foundations to the human dynamics involved, as well as the national, institutional, and cultural contexts in which it unfolds. He is able to disentangle these layers with clarity, while also discerning which demand the most attention. All with a rare combination of intellectual rigour, warmth, and care.