Jeffrey Bader is a senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution.
From 2009 until 2011, Bader was special assistant to the president of the United States for national security affairs at the National Security Council. In that capacity, he was the principal advisor to President Obama on Asia.
Bader served from 2005 to 2009 as the director of the China Initiative and, subsequently, as the first director of the John L. Thornton China Center.
During his three decade career with the U.S. government, Bader was principally involved in U.S.-China relations at the State Department, the National Security Council, and the Office of the United States Trade Representative. In 2001, as assistant U.S. trade representative, he led the United States delegation in completing negotiations on the accession of China and Taiwan into the World Trade Organization.
Bader served as a Foreign Service officer in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Namibia, Zambia, Congo, and the United States Mission to the United Nations. During the 1990s, he was deputy assistant secretary of state responsible for China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia; director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council; and director of the State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs. He served as U.S. ambassador to Namibia from 1999 to 2001.
Bader is the author of “Obama and China’s Rise: An Insider’s Account of America’s Asia Strategy,” published in 2012 by Brookings Institution Press. He is president and sole proprietor of Jeffrey Bader LLC, which provides assistance to companies with interests in Asia.
Bader received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s and doctorate in European history from Columbia University. He speaks Chinese and French.
Affiliations:
Jeffrey Bader LLC, president
National Committee on United States-China Relations, member, board of directors
- Contact
- fpmedia@brookings.edu — Foreign Policy Program
- Topics
- Asia & the Pacific
- China
- International Affairs
- Taiwan
- U.S. Foreign Policy
- Programs
- Foreign Policy
- Centers
- John L. Thornton China Center
- Additional Expertise Areas
- China
- Taiwan
- U.S. foreign policy
- International relations
- Current Position
- Member, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations
- Past Positions
- Ambassador to Namibia (1999-2000)
- Director for Asian Affairs, National Security Council
- Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs
- Assistant U.S. Trade Representative
- Deputy Consul General to Hong Kong
- Director, Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, U.S. State Department
- Senior Vice President, Stonebridge International
- Member, Academic Advisory Board, U.S.-China Congressional Working Group
- Member, Editorial Board, China Security Magazine
- Member, Policy Advisory Board, Asia Society
- Visiting Scholar, John L. Thornton China Center, The Brookings Institution
- Education
- Ph.D., Columbia University, 1975
- B.A., Yale University, 1967
