Karyn Kao is a 2026 Summer intern at the Global Taiwan Institute. She recently received her master’s degree in International Affairs from the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego, with a specialization in International Politics and regional focuses in China and Southeast Asia. She also obtained her B.A. from UC San Diego in International Affairs with distinctions.
Prior to joining GTI, Karyn has worked on Taiwan-US defense cooperation as a research intern with the Coalition Defense of Taiwan project at the American Enterprise Institute. During her time at Academia Sinica in Taipei, she co-authored a published paper on Taiwan’s popular perceptions of victory in Taiwan against Chinese military aggression. Her research interests include China’s short-of-war strategies against Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, intersection of Taiwan’s domestic politics and great power competition, and democratic governance.
