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
Page 2 of 12
November 01, 2022

Xi Jinping’s Energy Policy: Contradictions and Caveats

By Bonnie Girard
Xi has made big promises on China's emissions and energy mix, but his work report at the 20th Party Congress suggests neither is a top priority.
September 30, 2022

Can the Chinese Communist Party Congress Surprise Us?

By Bonnie Girard
Surprises are possible at the CCP’s most scripted event – but this year, any hopes for an “October surprise” are wishful thinking.

August 31, 2022

How China’s Coal Commitment Went up in Smoke

By Bonnie Girard
The flip-flop on coal policy makes it clear that China’s climate goals take a backseat to energy security and self-sufficiency.

August 01, 2022

China, US Woo Pacific Island Nations

By Bonnie Girard
The Pacific Islands states have rejected China’s overreach. But are Washington’s efforts any more attractive?

June 30, 2022

Assimilation: China’s Failed Strategy in Xinjiang

By Bonnie Girard
China’s approach to Xinjiang rests on forced assimilation, a difficult task in a society where even those who wish to assimilate struggle to do so.
May 25, 2022

Xinjiang Police Files Show Xi Jinping’s Personal Involvement in Uyghur Persecution

By Bonnie Girard
The files, in addition to adding to a mountain of evidence of the abuse and detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, include previously secret speeches tying the oppression directly to the top.

April 29, 2022

Xi Jinping Suffers From the Putin Effect

By Bonnie Girard
Xi has tied himself personally to Russia’s leader through public declarations of friendship. Now Xi shares the reputational damage of the brutalities Russia is unleashing on Ukraine.
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?

Page 2 of 12