Richard Boucher | |
---|---|
4th Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs | |
In office February 21, 2006 –January 20, 2009 | |
Preceded by | Christina B. Rocca |
Succeeded by | Robert O. Blake Jr. |
Personal details | |
Born | Bethesda,Maryland,U.S. | December 13,1951
Education | |
Richard A. Boucher (born December 13, 1951) is an American diplomat who was deputy secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) from 2009 until 2013. He took up post on November 5, 2009. Prior to joining OECD, he was the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, a position he assumed on February 21, 2006. The Bureau of South Asian Affairs was expanded to include the nations of Central Asia shortly before his confirmation.
In 2005, Boucher became the longest-serving assistant secretary of state for public affairs in the U.S. Department of State's history. He began his most recent tenure as spokesman for the State Department in May 2000 under Secretary Madeleine Albright and continued as spokesman throughout the tenure of Secretary Colin Powell and for Secretary Condoleezza Rice until June 2005. He had previously served as the department's deputy spokesman under Secretary Baker, starting in 1989, and became the spokesman for Secretary Eagleburger in August 1992 and for Secretary Christopher until June 1993.
Boucher’s early career focused on economic affairs, China and Europe. From October 1993 to June 1996 he served as ambassador to Cyprus, and from 1996 to 1999 he headed the U.S. Consulate General in Hong Kong as the consul general. He led U.S. efforts as the U.S. senior official for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) from July 1999 to April 2000.
Since joining the Foreign Service in 1977, Boucher received Mandarin training at the Foreign Service Institute's Chinese Language School in Taichung, Taiwan, before transferring to the Embassy chancery in Taipei in 1978 [1] (the diplomatic ties between Taipei and Washington severed on the same year, thus ending the operation of embassy in 1979), He then served at the Consulate General in Guangzhou from 1979 to 1980. After that he went back to Washington D.C. to serve in the State Department's Economic Bureau, and on the China Desk. He returned to China from 1984 to 1986 as deputy principal officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai, and then went back to Washington in July 1986, where he served in the State Department's Operations Center and as the deputy director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs. [2] He served as a contractor of the USAID, and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, [3] from 1973 to 1975.
Boucher is a Foreign Service officer with the personal rank of career ambassador, the highest rank obtainable by a Foreign Service officer, and was also the longest-serving assistant secretary for public affairs in the Department of State’s history.
In 2020, Boucher, along with over 130 other former Republican national security officials, signed a statement that asserted that U.S. President Donald Trump was unfit to serve another term, and "To that end, we are firmly convinced that it is in the best interest of our nation that Vice President Joe Biden be elected as the next President of the United States, and we will vote for him." [4]
Fluent in Chinese and French, Boucher obtained his bachelor's degree in 1973 at Tufts University in English and French literature and did graduate work in economics at the George Washington University. He is currently a senior fellow in international and public affairs at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
Under the Basic Law, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is exclusively in charge of its internal affairs, whilst the central government of China is responsible for its foreign affairs and defence. As a separate customs territory, Hong Kong maintains and develops relations with foreign states and regions, and plays an active role in such international organisations as World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in its own right under the name of Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong participates in 16 projects of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Nicholas Platt is an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Pakistan, Philippines, Zambia, and as a high level diplomat in Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Japan. He is the former president of the Asia Society in New York City.
A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries.
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country, usually an embassy. The term "consulate" may refer not only to the office of a consul, but also to the building occupied by the consul and the consul's staff. The consulate may share premises with the embassy itself.
The Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau, represents the United States in Hong Kong and Macau.
There are 122 diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, of which 61 are consulates-general and 61 are consulates and six officially recognised bodies in Hong Kong. As Hong Kong has the status of a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, some consuls-general in Hong Kong report directly to their respective foreign ministries, rather than to their Embassies in Beijing.
John Herbert Holdridge was an American foreign service officer and diplomat, who was best known for having taken part in, and later recounted, Henry A. Kissinger's secret 1971 initiative to restore United States diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. He also served as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore (1975–1978) and Indonesia (1982–1986).
David Duane Pearce is an American diplomat who served from 2013 to 2016 as the U.S. Ambassador to Greece. He also served as the United States Ambassador to Algeria, 2008–11 and as the U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem from 2003-2005. He was the Assistant Chief of Mission at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan from 2011-2012; and served as the Acting United States Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia from 2012-2013.
Richard Llewellyn Williams, is a former career member of the Senior Foreign Service who, over three decades as a career U.S. diplomat, opened the Consulate General of the United States, Guangzhou, the first American consulate in mainland China since the 1940s, served as the first U.S. Ambassador to the Mongolian People's Republic from 1988 to 1990 and then was named Consul General in Hong Kong from 1990 to 1993. Williams was also director of Chinese affairs at the U.S. State Department during the Tiananmen crisis.
Stephen Markley Young is an American diplomat who was the Consul General of the Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong under the State department in the Obama administration.
The Embassy of the United States in Beijing is the diplomatic mission of the United States in China. It serves as the administrative office of the United States Ambassador to China. The embassy complex is in Chaoyang, Beijing.
The Australian Consulate General Hong Kong represents the Commonwealth of Australia in Hong Kong, and is also accredited to Macau. As Hong Kong was linked to the Commonwealth during British administration, Australia's diplomatic presence was exercised by an Australian Commission, until 1 January 1986, when it was renamed the Australian Consulate-General. From 1946 to 1972, Australia was represented by the Australian Trade Commission.
Christopher J. Marut is an American diplomat who last served as Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto embassy of the United States in Taiwan, from 2012 to 2015. He also served as acting consul general of the Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau from 2009 to 2010. He later served as foreign policy advisor to Commander, United States Pacific Command (CDRUSPACOM), Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr.
Kurt Walter Tong is a business consultant and former American diplomat, and the former Consul General of the United States of America to Hong Kong and Macau during the Umbrella Revolution. He joined The Asia Group LLC in July 2019 and is a Managing Partner at the firm.
Joseph R. Donovan Jr. is a former American diplomat who previously served as United States Ambassador to Indonesia. Joseph R. Donovan Jr. graduated from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He earned a master's degree from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Susan Ashton Thornton is a former American diplomat and former acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.
Susan Nan Stevenson is an American diplomat and career member of the Senior Foreign Service who had served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research from October 2021 to June 2023. She previously served as the United States ambassador to Equatorial Guinea from 2019 to 2021.
Matthew John Matthews was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Brunei from 2019 to 2020.
Michael Hanscom Smith is a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service who had served as Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau from July 2019 to July 2022. Smith has also served as Consul General in Shanghai (2014–2017), Director/Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs at the Department of State. He also served as Economic Section Chief at the Taipei Main Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), and team leader at the United States Provincial Reconstruction Team in the Iraqi Province of Muthanna.
David J Ranz is a career member of the US Senior Foreign Service who has been serving as Consul General in Mumbai since August 2019. Ranz has served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs; and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Pakistan. Ranz was also Director of the Office of Pakistan Affairs.