Full Name
Rick Waters
Job Title
China Practice Managing Director
Company (Please input the full name of your organization)
Eurasia Group
Speaker Bio
Rick Waters is the managing director of Eurasia Group's China practice. Drawing on his decades of experience in the US foreign service, Rick leads the firm's China expertise and client offerings. His research interests include China's global and regional diplomacy, US-China relations, and China's domestic political economy.
Rick joined Eurasia Group after a 27-year career as the US 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 US embassy in Beijing—including during the period between the accidental US 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.
Rick joined Eurasia Group after a 27-year career as the US 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 US embassy in Beijing—including during the period between the accidental US 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.
