New CCA Fellow | Rick Waters Joins the Center for China Analysis as a Senior Fellow

July 8 2024— The Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis (CCA) is pleased to announce that Rick Waters has joined its global community of China experts as a nonresident Senior Fellow.

Mr. Waters is currently Managing Director of Eurasia Group’s China practice and brings more than a quarter-century of experience as the U.S. State Department’s top China policy official. He specializes in China’s global and regional diplomacy, U.S.-China relations, and China’s domestic political economy.

“We are very excited to welcome Rick Waters to the Asia Society family,” says Dr. Kyung-wha Kang, Asia Society’s Global President and CEO. “He has long been a leading expert on China and will be a valuable addition to our Center for China Analysis.”

In addition to his new role, Mr. Waters will maintain his position at Eurasia Group leading the firm’s China expertise and client offerings.

Fluent in Mandarin, Spanish, and Arabic, Mr. Waters held multiple roles at the U.S. embassy in Beijing and oversaw the creation of the Office of China Coordination (the “China House”) in 2022, while concurrently serving as deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

“It is with immense pleasure that we welcome Rick Waters as our newest Senior Fellow. At a time when we are grappling with intricate questions about China’s economic vulnerabilities, intensifying U.S.-China competition, as well as increasingly complex state-society dynamics within China, Rick’s arrival couldn’t be timelier,” says CCA Co-Founder and Managing Director Jing Qian. “With his depth of understanding from many years of working in China and his direct experience with Chinese authorities from the State Department, Rick is uniquely equipped to provide invaluable insights to help us all at CCA unravel China’s complexities and deliver policy-relevant analyses with nuanced and holistic perspectives. Welcome aboard, Rick!”

Mr. Waters joins the CCA’s more than 40 staff and fellows located in 10 countries around the world who work on issues related to China using the center’s “inside-out” approach.

For more information on Mr. Waters, please see his bio on the CCA website. Please direct media inquiries to [email protected].