Sino-Russian Military Cooperation in the North Pacific Arctic: Implications for US Security

Biography:

Dr. Elizabeth Wishnick is a Senior Research Scientist in the China and Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Division at CNA and a Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University. She was a tenured professor of Political Science at Montclair State University from 2005-2024. Dr. Wishnick has dual regional expertise on China and Russia and is an expert on Chinese foreign policy, Sino-Russian relations, Asian security, and Arctic geopolitics. Her book project, China’s Risk China’s Risk: Energy, Water, Food and Regional Security (forthcoming in 2026 with Columbia University Press) addresses the security consequences of energy, water and food risks in China for its Eurasian neighbors, a topic she explores in a related policy blog on Substack, China’s Resource Risks. In 2023-24 she was a fellow at the East-West Center, where she directed a project on US Indo-Pacific partners and the Arctic. In October 2023 she participated in a State Department speaker program in Iceland to discuss Russian and Chinese interests in the Arctic. She received a PhD in Political Science from Columbia University, an MA in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University, and a BA from Barnard College. She speaks Mandarin, Russian, and French.

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