The Institute of World Politics is pleased to welcome a new member to the faculty, John Tkacik. He will be teaching a course on Wednesday afternoons this fall entitled The United States and China in Power Transition: Geography, History, and Ideology.
The course will review the period of the late Ming dynasty to the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and how this period continues to influence China’s interaction with the international community. The course will then study the period from China’s entry into the Korean War up to the normalizations of relations with the U.S. and those national security issues that either enhanced or challenged the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, and the central role of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Liberation Army, and the Ministry of State Security in the management of those issues.
In his professional work, Mr. Tkacik supplies International Assessment and Strategy Center’s Asia policy, strategy and military programs with analysis and research from the perspective of a career diplomat. He maintains an international network of experts, conducts briefings for congressional, academic, think tank, and military audiences, and testifies before Congress.
Mr. Tkacik served 24 years in the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service Officer, with almost 20 years of that working in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and on China/Taiwan affairs in the State Department. During his 1989-94 service as the Deputy U.S. Consul General in Guangzhou (Canton), and later as Chief of China Analysis at the U.S. State Department Office of Intelligence and Research (INR), he received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award and the Intelligence Community’s Exceptional Collector Award. At INR, he supervised all State Department analysis, coordination, and dissemination of China economic, commercial, military, political, and strategic intelligence.
Mr. Tkacik is a fluent Chinese speaker and an acknowledged expert on Taiwan’s economics and politics. He earned his undergraduate degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and a Master’s from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He also holds a diploma from the National War College at the National Defense University.
Mr. Tkacik has appeared regularly in U.S. and international media, including CNN, PBS, MSNBC, Fox News and C-SPAN, and publications such as the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, The Diplomat, Defense News, and Jane’s Defense Publications.
From 2001-9, Mr. Tkacik was Research Fellow for China, Taiwan and Mongolia Policy at The Heritage Foundation. From 1994-present, he has served as president of China Business Intelligence, an Alexandria, Virginia, research firm providing intelligence support to U.S. companies doing business with China and publishers of a weekly business bulletin for Taiwan. He has also served as R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International vice president for external affairs in Asia Pacific.