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The Diplomat  |  Author

Bonnie Girard

Bonnie Girard

Bonnie Girard is President of China Channel Ltd. She has lived and worked in China for half of her adult life, beginning in 1987 when she studied at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing.

Bonnie Girard has lived and worked in China for half of her adult life, beginning in 1987 when she studied at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing. In 1996, after nine years in China and having worked for European multinational telecommunications companies in their China sales and operations throughout the country, she founded China Channel, the first independent consultancy providing due diligence for foreign companies coming into the Chinese market. In the years since, Bonnie, British husband and partner Roland Evans, and her colleagues in China have handled China issues for clients as diverse as Lloyd’s of London, IBM, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and Brunswick Bowling.

Bonnie is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been responsible for the negotiation and implementation of over $1 billion worth of contracts in China, and is a frequent speaker on Chinese business and political issues. Bonnie grew up in Washington, D.C. and Virginia, in a family long active in government, foreign service, academics, and journalism. She handles all of her personal and professional business in China in Mandarin Chinese. She can be reached by email here, and on Twitter at @BonnieGirard.

Posts by Bonnie Girard
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March 30, 2022

The Cost of the War to the China-Ukraine Relationship

By Bonnie Girard
Ukraine was not one of China’s largest partners, but they had important ties in a number of areas that will be difficult to replace.
February 25, 2022

Nixon Goes to China: The Wider Impact

By Bonnie Girard
Beyond its seismic implications for China-U.S. relations, the rapprochement reshaped politics across the Asia-Pacific – and beyond.

December 30, 2021

A Real String of Pearls: The Hidden Bellwether of the State of the Chinese Economy

By Bonnie Girard
The pearl is a symbol of all of China’s economic factors combined. 

December 01, 2021

Even Duterte Can’t Get Around the Thorn in China-Philippine Relations

By Bonnie Girard
The South China Sea continues to be a perennial flashpoint, despite Duterte's best efforts to keep relations on an even keel.

October 29, 2021

Work Drinking in China Comes Under Fire

By Bonnie Girard
China's drinking culture is thousands of years old. Can it be reshaped to fit the modern era?
September 30, 2021

China’s AUKUS Response Highlights Beijing’s Bunker Mentality

By Bonnie Girard
Beijing seems completely unwilling – or unable – to consider its own actions might be feeding the “China containment” push.

August 31, 2021

Fentanyl in America: A Barometer of the China-US Relationship

By Bonnie Girard
China has numerous potential avenues for cracking down on illegal drug production and export. What it lacks is the political will to do so.
August 23, 2021

China and the Taliban: What to Watch

By Bonnie Girard
Developments in two areas – Afghanistan’s illicit drug trade and the Sino-Afghan shared border – will give us early indications of Beijing’s approach to a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

July 30, 2021

Britain Returns to Asia, to China’s Dismay

By Bonnie Girard
The U.K.’s naval presence in East Asia has provoked an angry response from China.

July 19, 2021

What Cultured Meat Can Tell Us About China

By Bonnie Girard
A new survey on a niche product provides a window into changing attitudes, and even has implications for Chinese national security.

June 30, 2021

The CCP Can’t Take Credit for China’s Phenomenal Economic Growth

By Bonnie Girard
The Chinese Communist Party has never been adept at creating the conditions for economic development, except when it steps away.
June 26, 2021

At 100 Years Old, China’s Communist Party Still Can’t Get Along with Its Next-Door Neighbors

By Bonnie Girard
Central Asian governments might be cozy with Beijing, but Central Asian people continue to protest China's rising influence.

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