Bonny Lin

Director, China Power Project and Senior Fellow, Asian Security
Bonny Lin

Bonny Lin is a senior fellow for Asian security and director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Previously, she was the acting associate director of the Strategy and Doctrine Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE and a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, where she analyzed different aspects of China’s foreign and defense policy and U.S. competition with China, including China’s use of gray zone tactics against U.S. allies and partners. Her research advised senior leaders in the Department of Defense, including military leaders at U.S. Pacific Air Forces and U.S. Army Pacific. Dr. Lin also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2015 to 2018, where she was director for Taiwan, country director for China, and senior adviser for China.

Dr. Lin has testified in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an adjunct at the RAND Corporation and Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA). Dr. Lin holds a PhD in political science from Yale University, a master’s degree in Asian studies with a focus on China from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College.

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Hand-Off: The Evolution of U.S. Policy in Asia

Reflections on the Bush-Obama Transition with Former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley and Expert Perspectives on U.S. Strategy in the Region Today.

Event by Stephen Hadley , David Sanger , Victor Cha , Christopher B. Johnstone , Bonny Lin , Dennis Wilder , and Nicholas Szechenyi — May 23, 2023

U.S.-China Competition and Indo-Pacific Security

Please join the CSIS Korea Chair for an event on U.S.-China competition and Indo-Pacific Security, with speakers from Korea, Taiwan and the U.S. 

Event by John J. Hamre , Victor Cha , Bonny Lin , Jaechun Kim , Dongchan Kim , Hung-Jen Wang , Chen-Yu Li , Yujen Kuo , and Nicholas Szechenyi — May 12, 2023

Xi Jinping's China and the Korean Peninsula

The 'Commission on Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula', launched by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), invites you to an in-depth discussion on the impact of Xi Jinping's third term as president of Chinese Communist Party in the geopolitics of Northeast Asia and the Korean Peninsula with prominent experts such as Prof. Joseph S. Nye Jr. of Harvard University, and formerly high-ranking officials from the United States and South Korea. 

Event by Joseph S. Nye Jr. , Park In-kook , Victor Cha , Bonny Lin , and Ahn Ho-young , Bonnie Glaser , Lee Chung Min , Dennis Wilder , Yeon Wonho , Sue Mi Terry , Lee Jae-Seung , Andrew Yeo , Kim Byung-yeon , Han Young-Sup , Park Byung Kwang — April 14, 2023