Lily McElwee

Dr. Lily McElwee is President and CEO of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations, where she advances Arizona’s role in global affairs and champions subnational diplomacy. She previously served as deputy director and fellow with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC, and continues as a non-resident fellow. A recognized expert on China’s foreign policy and U.S.–China relations, her work examines China’s engagement with the United States, Europe, and the Global South. She is the author of Raising the Drawbridge: U.S. Investment Screening Amid the Rise of China (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026), supported by the Smith Richardson Foundation. Dr. McElwee has held fellowships with the American Council on Germany, the CSIS–USC U.S.–Korea NextGen program, and the QUAD Task Force on China’s Strategic Futures. She has lived in the United Kingdom, China, and Germany, and holds a DPhil and MSc from the University of Oxford and a BA with honors from Stanford University.