The Asia Foundation

Expertise: Political and economic development in China and Vietnam; Southeast Asian affairs; China-Southeast Asia relations; and governance and legal reform.

Jonathan R. Stromseth has been The Asia Foundation's country representative for China since early 2006. Based in Beijing, Dr. Stromseth oversees a broad range of programs in China focusing on governance and legal reform, public participation and transparency, land rights, environmental protection, labor relations, and international affairs. He served as the Foundation's country representative in Vietnam from 2000 to late 2005. He established the Foundation's office in Hanoi and managed programs in Vietnam in the areas of economic governance, private sector development, legal reform, and U.S.-Vietnam relations. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, he worked for the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Cambodia and taught graduate courses on Southeast Asia at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Dr. Stromseth holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University, where his studies focused on the international relations and comparative politics of East Asia and Southeast Asia. In addition, he studied Mandarin Chinese at Middlebury College and the Beijing Language Institute, Vietnamese language and history at Cornell University, and conducted research on Southeast Asian politics at the National University of Singapore with the support of a Fulbright Scholarship. He focused on Asian Studies at St. Olaf College, concentrating in Chinese history. His academic awards include a President's Fellowship from Columbia University and research fellowships from the Social Science Research Council and the Institute for the Study of World Politics.

Dr. Stromseth has published extensively on East Asian affairs. Articles or publications include “Economic Reforms Pave Way for Visit to the White House," The Asian Wall Street Journal, June 21, 2005; Dialogue on U.S.-Vietnam Relations, Vol. 2, Global and Regional Influences (The Asia Foundation, 2004); Dialogue on U.S.-Vietnam Relations, Vol. 1, Domestic Dimensions (The Asia Foundation, 2003); and "Business Associations and Policy-Making in Vietnam," in Getting Organized in Vietnam: Moving In and Around the Socialist State, edited by Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet et al. (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2003).

Education: B.A. in history and Asian studies from St. Olaf College (Phi Beta Kappa); Master of International Affairs, Certificate of the East Asian Institute; M.Phil. and Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.