The Honorable Dr. Kevin Rudd AC

The Honorable Dr. Kevin Rudd A.C. is a leading international authority on China. He currently serves as Global President and CEO of Asia Society in New York. Dr. Rudd returned to lead Asia Society in March 2026 following three years as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States under the Trump and Biden Administrations. He previously served as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010 and as Foreign Minister from 2010 to 2012, before returning as Prime Minister in 2013. Asia Society was established in 1956 and now operates across 16 centers with more than 250 staff around the world. Dr. Rudd is also Founding President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, a “think-and-do tank” focused on global engagement with Asia, and the Founding Chair of its Center for China Analysis. He has published two books on China and U.S.-China relations, On Xi Jinping (2024) and The Avoidable War (2022). Dr. Rudd is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, having graduated in Chinese language and history from the Australian National University. In 2022 he was awarded his DPhil from Oxford University for his dissertation on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ideological worldview. Over the years, he has been extensively cited on China, appearing frequently on U.S. network and cable television and the BBC. He has written extensively in the international print media including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Financial Times, and across the major outlets in India, Japan, France, Germany and across Europe. Most recently, he appeared on Ezra Klein’s podcast to discuss Xi Jinping, and on Gideon Rachman’s podcast to discuss U.S.-China relations.