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Nicholas Burns

Nicholas Burns is the U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nominated by President Joe Biden, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2021.

As ambassador, he leads a team of public servants from 48 U.S. government agencies and sub-agencies at the U.S. Mission in China, including at the Embassy in Beijing and at the American Consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Shenyang. He oversees the Mission’s interaction with the PRC on the full range of political, security, economic, commercial, consular issues, and many others, that shape this critical relationship.

He was the Goodman Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government (2008-2021), where he founded the school’s Future of Diplomacy Project.

He has had a long career in American diplomacy, serving six presidents and nine secretaries of state. Most recently, he was a member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Board of Secretary of State John Kerry (2014-2017). While serving at the Department of State as a career Foreign Service Officer, he was undersecretary of state for political affairs (2005-2008).

As ambassador to NATO (2001-2005), Burns led U.S. efforts in Brussels on 9/11, when the alliance invoked Article 5 of the NATO Treaty for the first time in its history. He also served as ambassador to Greece (1997-2001) and State Department spokesperson (1995-1997).

He worked on the National Security Council at the White House (1990-1995) where he was Special Assistant to President Clinton. In the George H.W. Bush administration, he was the senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs, and the director for Soviet affairs during the collapse of the USSR.

Burns is a graduate of Boston College (bachelor’s degree in history, 1978) and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (master’s degree in international relations, 1980).