Rick Waters is a Non-Resident Honorary Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis. He is also the Managing Director of Eurasia Group's China practice. Drawing on his decades of experience in the U.S. foreign service, Rick leads Eurasia Group's China expertise and client offerings. His research interests include China's global and regional diplomacy, U.S.-China relations, and China's domestic political economy.

Rick joins us after a 27-year career as the U.S. State Department's top China policy official, overseeing the creation of the Office of China Coordination, informally known as the China House, and concurrently serving as deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan. Rick also held multiple roles at the U.S. embassy in Beijing — including during the period between the accidental U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 and the Hainan Island incident in 2001.  

Fluent in Mandarin and Spanish, Rick also speaks Arabic and worked for more than a decade on Middle East issues, including as director for Israel, Palestine, Egypt, and Jordan at the National Security Council under George W. Bush and as political counselor in Jerusalem and Islamabad. A graduate of Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, Rick is based in Eurasia Group's Washington, DC, office. When not immersed in all things China, he enjoys hiking and sailing with his wife and unruly Labrador.