Brent Christensen

William Brent Christensen (traditional Chinese: 酈英傑) is a United States diplomat currently serving as Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto embassy of the United States in Taiwan.[1][2] Christensen's prior appointments include Deputy Director of AIT and Director of the State Department’s Office of Taiwan coordination.[3][4]

This article is about the diplomat. For the former student named Brendt Christensen, see Kidnapping and murder of Yingying Zhang.
Brent Christensen as Director of the Taipei Main Office, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT/T) on August 23, 2018.

Early life and education

Christensen is a native of Provo, Utah, born as the great-great-grandson of C. C. A. Christensen, a Danish American artist.[5] He earned a BA in Chinese language and literature from Brigham Young University, an MA in East Asian Studies from George Washington University, and a DMD (Doctor of Dental Medicine) from the Oregon Health & Science University. Christensen served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force before joining the Foreign Service.[3][4]

Diplomatic career
Brent Christensen (second from left) as Director of the Office of Taiwan Coordination, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, United States Department of State, met with Ma Ying-jeou in 2011.

Christensen, since 2010, was Director of the State Department’s Office of Taiwan coordination, where he had a primary role in formulating U.S. policy toward Taiwan. In his posting at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2007 to 2010, he served as Counselor for Environment, Science, Technology and Health, where he established the Embassy's air quality monitoring program and led working groups on avian influenza, HIV/AIDS and climate change.[3][4]

Christensen also served as a Congressional Fellow on the staff of former U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe.[3][4]

His other overseas postings include Hong Kong and South Africa. He then joined the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies as foreign policy advisor.[3][4]

gollark: Great!
gollark: The issues of picking an initial dictator, and passing it on to the next person, will run into similar issues to modern democracy: you're optimizing for someone who's convincing and sounds good and not necessarily someone who *is*.
gollark: And you run into the issue of: how do you pass on leadership?
gollark: Even if you start with a dictator who seems good and all, they may stop being good after a while.
gollark: I'll explain why once I finish reading the backlog, sorry.

References
  1. "Former AIT deputy chief named director: sources". TAIPEI TIMES. June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  2. "Brent Christensen to be inaugurated new AIT Director on June 12 in Taipei". TAIWAN NEWS. June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  3. "Brent Christensen Assumes Duties as Deputy Director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan". American Institute in Taiwan. August 3, 2012. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  4. "W. BRENT CHRISTENSEN FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR" (PDF). Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. September 2016. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  5. "老友書藝掛牆上！直擊AIT處長酈英傑辦公室" [A glimpse into the office of AIT Director Christensen, with a friend's calligraphy on the wall] (in Chinese). Formosa Television. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Kin W. Moy		 Director of the American Institute in Taiwan
2018–present		 Succeeded by
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