Dr. Evan S. Medeiros, Managing Director & Practice Head Asia, eads Eurasia Group’s research on Asia. In June 2015, he stepped down from the position of special assistant to the president and senior director for Asian affairs at the White House’s National Security Council (NSC). In that role, Evan served as President Barack Obama’s top advisor on the Asia-Pacific and was responsible for coordinating US policy toward the Asia-Pacific across the areas of diplomacy, defense policy, eco- nomic policy and intelligence affairs.
Evan was one of the longest serving officials on President Obama’s NSC staff and was his longest serving advisor on Asia-Pacific affairs. He joined the National Security Council staff in summer 2009 as director for China, Taiwan and Mongolian affairs. In total, he served on the NSC staff for nearly 6 years and was actively involved in US-China relations throughout his NSC tenure, including by developing the initial proposal for the Sunnyland’s Summit, planning the president’s successful summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in fall 2014, and managing numerous other high-level US-China interactions.
Evan previously worked for seven years (2002-2009) as a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He specialized in research on the inter- national politics of East Asia, China’s foreign and national security policies, U.S.-China relations, and Chinese defense and security issues. From 2007
to 2008, he served as policy advisor to the special envoy for China and the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue at the Treasury Department, serv- ing Secretary Henry “Hank” Paulson.
Evan has written several books and journal articles on a broad range of Asian security issues. In 2009, he published the book China’s International Behavior: Activism, Opportunism and Diversification (RAND, 2009) and in
2008 co-authored Pacific Currents: The Responses of U.S. Allies and Security
Partners in East Asia to China’s Rise, (RAND, 2008). In 2007, he published the internationally recognized volume: Reluctant Restraint: The Evolution of China’s Nonproliferation Policies and Practices, 1980-2004 (Stanford Uni- versity Press, 2007).
Prior to joining RAND, Evan was a senior research associate at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. In 2000, he was a visiting fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the China Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing and an adjunct lecturer at China’s Foreign Affairs College.
He holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the London School of Eco- nomics and Political Science, an M.Phil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge (where he was a Fulbright Scholar), an M.A. in China Studies from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Stud- ies (SOAS), and a B.A. in analytic philosophy from Bates College in Maine.