John Tkacik

John Tkacik is a retired U.S. foreign service officer, businessman, and policy commentator with over forty years’ experience in China, Taiwan, and Mongolian affairs. He spent twenty-four years in the Department of State and in diplomatic and consular offices in Taiwan and China and was Chief of China Analysis in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research before retiring in 1994. He was Vice President for government relations for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco International and was a consultant to RJR-Nabisco China from 1996 to 1999. He joined The Heritage Foundation in 2001, where he was Senior Research Fellow in Asian Studies. At Heritage, he penned press commentaries and research studies on China, Taiwan, and Mongolia issues and edited two books: Reshaping the Taiwan Strait (Heritage Books, 2007) and Rethinking “One China” (The Heritage Foundation, 2004). He is fluent in Chinese. He has degrees from Harvard and Georgetown universities.