Lynn Kuok Keynote Speaker

Leading voice on the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific
Lee Kuan Yew Chair at The Brookings Institution
Testified before the U.S.‑China Economic & Security Review Commission in March 2025

Lynn Kuok's Biography

Dr. Lynn Kuok is a leading voice on the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. Based in Washington, DC, she holds the Lee Kuan Yew Chair at the Brookings Institution. Her expertise spans US-China-Southeast Asia relations, Europe’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific, and the strategic use of international law in global affairs.

She was previously the Shangri-La Dialogue Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies and a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she taught international law of the sea and East Asian politics, with a focus on the South China Sea.

Dr Kuok has provided expert testimony before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the UK House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee, and the UK House of Commons Defence Committee. She has also delivered lectures at leading diplomatic and defence institutions, including the US Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute, the UK’s Royal College of Defence Studies, and the Australian War College.

Her writing has appeared in major publications, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Survival, The Wall Street Journal, and Nikkei Asia. She is a regular contributor to broadcast and print media, such as the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and has presented her work at Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and Cambridge, among other institutions.

Dr Kuok has held fellowships at the University of Cambridge, Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Harvard Kennedy School, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Centre for International Law.

She served as Editor-in-Chief of three major journals: the Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment (with Dr. Tim Huxley), the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, and the Singapore Law Review.

She is a council member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Geopolitics and previously served on its Global Future Council on International Security. She holds a doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

US-China competition: What’s at Stake for the World

A look at how US-China rivalry is reshaping global politics and what it means for allies, partners and the future of the rule of law.

Southeast Asia at the Crossroads: Navigating US-China Rivalry

Explores how Southeast Asia is responding to great-power competition - balancing security, economic ties and strategic autonomy - amid growing pressure to choose sides.

Flashpoints in Asia: Where the Next Crisis Could Erupt

Assesses key geopolitical flashpoints in the Indo-Pacific, including the South China Sea and Taiwan, why they matter, how they might escalate, and how conflict could be deterred.

Safeguarding the International System: Rules, Power and Global Order

Explores how great powers and great-power competition are straining the international system, and what it will take to preserve the principles that underpin global stability.

Europe’s in the Indo-Pacific: Partner or Bystander?

Examines Europe’s role in the Indo-Pacific - from diplomatic and economic engagement to broader strategic ties - amid a war in Europe and rising tensions in Asia.