The Diplomat | Author

Mercy A. Kuo
Mercy A. Kuo is Senior Contributing Author at The Diplomat.
She was formerly executive vice president at a U.S. business risk intelligence consultancy, where she advised Fortune 500 companies on geopolitical risk.
Dr. Kuo has held executive leadership positions as president and executive director of the Washington State China Relations Council in Seattle, managing director and research director at the Committee of 100, a U.S.-China relations leadership organization in New York City, and director of the Southeast Asia and Strategic Asia programs at a U.S. foreign policy think tank. She previously served as an all-source analyst specializing in Northeast and Southeast Asian political, security, and military issues at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Dr. Kuo’s select publications include: “China-Russia Cooperation in Africa and the Middle East,” The Diplomat, April 3, 2023; “The Case That Could Hand the Future to China,” RealClearPolicy, November 25, 2019; “The China Factor in EU-US Relations: Fault Lines and Futures,” Security Policy Library, December 2019 Norwegian Atlantic Committee; “China’s Strategic Orientation: Assessing Alternative Futures,” China in the 21st Century: History, Security and International Relations, Vol. 3 (Praeger 2014), and Contending with Contradictions: China’s Policy towards Soviet Eastern Europe and the Origins of the Sino-Soviet Split, 1953-1960 (Lexington 2001).
Dr. Kuo provides subject-matter expertise on U.S.-China relations, Chinese foreign policy, China-EU-NATO dynamics, and the impact of geopolitical risk on business at international and national academic, business, investment, and government forums. She holds a Ph.D. in modern history from Oxford University and is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and International Institute for Strategic Studies.

May 21, 2025
Great Power Competition and the Global South
By Mercy A. Kuo

May 15, 2025
Asia’s Role In the US Shipbuilding Surge
By Mercy A. Kuo

May 07, 2025
Deglobalization and International Investment Trends
By Mercy A. Kuo

April 29, 2025
Taiwan-US Relations in the Trump Era
By Mercy A. Kuo

April 23, 2025
The Duterte Dynasty and Political Culture in the Philippines
By Mercy A. Kuo

April 17, 2025
How the CCP Is Reshaping Religious Order in China
By Mercy A. Kuo

April 10, 2025
How Middle Powers Shape Order in the Indo-Pacific
By Mercy A. Kuo

April 01, 2025
Vietnam in US-China Trade Tensions
By Mercy A. Kuo

March 26, 2025
The Evolution of US Foreign Policy Discourses on China
By Mercy A. Kuo

March 19, 2025
Greenland and Great Power Competition
By Mercy A. Kuo

March 12, 2025
Business Impact of Geopolitical Risk in the Trump Era
By Mercy A. Kuo
