Oriana Skylar Mastro is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where her research focuses on Chinese military and security policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, war termination, and coercive diplomacy. She is also a center fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and courtesy assistant professor of political science at Stanford University.
A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Mastro has been called upon to testify on Chinese security and military issues nine times for Congressional commissions and committees. Her work has been published widely from Foreign Affairs, the Economist, the Washington Quarterly, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal to academic journals such as International Security, Security Studies, and the Journal of Strategic Studies. Her most recent book, Upstart: How China Became a Great Power (Oxford University Press, 2024), evaluates China’s approach to competition. Her book, The Costs of Conversation: Obstacles to Peace Talks in Wartime, (Cornell University Press, 2019), won the 2020 American Political Science Association International Security Section Best Book by an Untenured Faculty Member. She is currently writing a book on the drivers and evolution of the Sino-Russian military relationship.
In addition to her policy and academic research, Mastro continues to serve in the United States Air Force Reserve. Over the past fifteen years she has worked on strategy at the Pentagon, Pacific Air Forces, and Indo-Pacific Command. She is currently assigned to the Pentagon as deputy director of reserve China global strategy. For her contributions to U.S. strategy in Asia, she won the Individual Reservist of the Year Award in 2016 (CGO) and 2022 (FGO).
She holds a B.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. Her publications and other commentary can be found at www.orianaskylarmastro.com and on twitter @osmastro.
Thirty years ago, the idea that China could challenge the United States economically, globally, and militarily seemed unfathomable. Yet today, China is considered a great power. How did China manage to build power in an international system that was largely dominated by the United States? What factors determined the strategies Beijing pursued to achieve this feat?
China wants to supplant the United States as the world’s dominant power, and although partnering with Iran, North Korea, and Russia helps Beijing in that effort, the trio can also undermine its aims.
A conversation about the October 14 Chinese military drill that deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle Taiwan, further agitating cross-strait tensions.
A discussion about U.S. policy toward Taiwan in light of talk that China might seek to compel the island’s reunification with the mainland.
China has risen not just by following in the footsteps of the United States, but also by exploiting U.S. vulnerabilities and its own competitive advantages.
Carnegie India hosted Oriana Skylar Mastro, for a discussion on her book, “Upstart: How China Became a Great Power” at the Security Studies Seminar. Beyond explaining the unique nature of China’s rise, Mastro’s book provides policy guidance on how the U.S. can maintain a competitive edge in this new era of great power competition. The discussion was moderated by Srinath Raghavan.
A discussion China’s rapid rise, Beijing’s ambitions on the global stage and how the US will respond.
Join us for a conversation with Oriana Mastro, Susan Thornton, Tong Zhao, and Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian as they discuss the growing U.S.-Chinese military competition and whether potentially disastrous global consequences can be averted.
With the emergence of the Indo-Pacific as the epicenter of global maritime activity, the rise of the Indian Navy has drawn much attention.
Bringing together experts from the U.S. and Taiwan, Assessing the Threat provides a comprehensive look at the dangers of military escalation in the Taiwan Strait, the latest advances in capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army, and China’s security relationship with the United States and the Asia-Pacific.
