Asia Society Announces Appointment of Bates Gill as the Executive Director of the Center for China Analysis

The Asia Society has appointed Dr. Bates Gill as the Executive Director of the Center for China Analysis. Based within the Asia Society Policy Institute, the Center aims to be a global leader for policy-relevant, objective, and independent analysis of China’s politics, economy, and society, and its foreign and security policy impact on Asia and the world.

“Bates brings a unique combination of world-class China expertise and extensive institutional leadership experience,” said Asia Society President and CEO, and Founding Chair of the Center Kevin Rudd.  “For more than 30 years — as a scholar, public intellectual, policy advisor, and board member, including with some of the world’s leading think tanks and universities — Bates has consistently delivered perceptive and balanced insights on China and Asian affairs.  I am delighted he has joined us at such a critical time for understanding China’s role in an era of growing great power competition.”

Dr. Gill joins the Asia Society after a number of research and academic leadership positions in the Indo-Pacific, Europe and United States.  Most recently, he was professor and chair of the Department of Security Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney and was also the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence with the Asia Society Australia.  In other roles, he has served as director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), as the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and as founding director of the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution.

“It is a great honor to join the Asia Society, a global organization that continues to expand its reach and impact,” Gill said. “Through the work of the Center, we have an unrivalled opportunity to engage and advise governments, businesses and communities about China and its impact, both in the United States and around the world.”

The author or editor of nine books on China- and Asia-related topics, Dr. Gill’s most recent book, Daring to Struggle: China’s Global Ambitions under Xi Jinping was published this year by Oxford University Press.  He received his Ph.D. in foreign policy from the University of Virginia, has lived and worked in China for two years, and has made more than 60 working visits to the country.  Among his international honors, Dr. Gill is a member of the Royal Order of the Commander of the Polar Star, the highest award bestowed up foreigners by the Swedish monarch, for his contribution to Sweden and the world.

Working closely with the Founding Chair Kevin Rudd, and the Center’s Managing Director, Jing Qian, Dr. Gill will oversee the operation and execution of strategic goals of the center with a team of fellows and associated researchers working across the five major pillars of the Center’s work: domestic politics; economy and technology; foreign policy and national security; climate, energy and environment; and society, culture, public health and education.

Members of the press, content creators, and others with a focus on Asia can email Bates at bgill@asiasociety.org and follow him at @batesgill. 

The mandate of Asia Society is to navigate shared futures for Asia and the world across policy, arts and culture, education, sustainability, business, and technology. Founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, nonprofit institution with major centers and public buildings in New York, Hong Kong, and Houston, and additional locations in Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Washington, D.C., and Zurich.