Thomas Christensen, a Wilson School and politics professor who focuses on international security and China's foreign relations, is expected to be named deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs soon.
Christensen, who has consulted for the federal government in the past and won the State Department's Distinguished Public Service Award in 2002, said in an interview Tuesday that he was excited about the job.
"It will be a steep learning curve for me," Christensen said. "I hope I will learn a lot on the job and be a better professor because of it." He said that leaving the University would be difficult because of his love of teaching, though he plans on returning.
Officials at the State Department in Washington declined to discuss Christensen, saying that they could not comment because an official announcement has not been made. "I can't discuss whether there's a possible appointment in the works," said a department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the agency's policy.
A University press release Monday said, however, that Christensen is expected to take up the post this summer, "pending appropriate clearances."
If Christensen is named to the post, as expected, he will report to Assistant Secretary Christopher Hill, who is in charge of the department's East Asia and Pacific bureau and is leading U.S. negotiations with North Korea on its nuclear ambitions.
Christensen said he would focus his energies on major regional affairs — relations between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, for example — and global matters regarding China's participation in world affairs, such as Iran's push for nuclear armament.
"It's hard to say exactly, on a day-today basis, what the job will entail," he said.
Christensen added that though his academic work has focused mainly on security matters and China's relationships with Taiwan and Japan, the position's portfolio is much broader and includes economic, human rights and cultural issues.
The State Department official said that there are currently four deputy assistant secretary positions in the East Asia and Pacific bureau, one of which focuses on China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia. That position, which oversees various country desks, is currently vacant, the official said.
Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 praised Christensen's appointment, saying in an email that the news "reflects on his extraordinary quality and reputation as a teacher and a scholar."
"I strongly support our faculty spending time in government, up to the two-year service leave that the University provides," she added.
Slaughter, who this past weekend announced a new undergraduate government service initiative, also commented on the importance of a public service leave to the University and the faculty members who pursue it.
"Their service, which is often at considerable personal and financial cost, puts their expertise and ability to work for all of us," Slaughter said. "They are modeling what we urge our students to do, in addition to their improved ability to marry theory and practice in the classroom and in their research when they return."
Susan Shirk, who during the Clinton administration served in the same deputy assistant secretary position Christensen is expected to assume, praised him in an interview as a "wonderful scholar."
"I think he has a deep understanding of the complicated situation that China is in the cross-strait issues between China and Taiwan and how the U.S. can best respond to the rise of China in a way that will prevent a military conflict," said Shirk, who hadn't served in government before being named to the post. She is now research director at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California San Diego.
Shirk said that while the transition from academia to government can be "definitely hard ... it's a terrific privilege to be able to put your knowledge to use in this way."
"It's definitely hard to learn the process, the foreign policy process, which is complicated ... as academics, we've never had a boss, never had a staff," Shirk said. "But you know ... there's no limit to what you can accomplish in government if you don't care about claiming credit. It's all about working with other people, building coalitions, communicating and trying to get things done."
Politics professor and China expert Lynn White said of Christensen: "As an American, I am delighted. As a Princetonian, we'll miss him."
White said that the last few decades of America's policy toward China have resembled a rollercoaster ride. In terms of economic and security benefits, he explained, America has benefited greatly and reacted positively, but that "there have been dips in that roller coaster" due to events such as the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.
"Keeping policy on an even keel is very difficult for U.S. politicians to do," White said. "[Christensen] can do a great deal to smooth the ride."
White laid out his own views about America's treatment of China and said he was confident in Christensen's ability to advise policymakers in their decisions.
"The main need, in my view, is for the United States to make clear to China that we do not oppose Taiwan being part of China," White said. "[But] we don't want to see a lively democracy in Taiwan taken over by a state that is still authoritarian and in fact still calls itself a 'dictatorship of the proletariat.' "
Christensen said that his tenure at the State Department would be worthwhile but brief, not only because the University's policy toward public service leave generally permits departures of no longer than two years but also because of his desire to return to his professorship.
"I plan to return to Princeton," he said.
For Shirk, the professor who served in the State Department, returning to academia was a bittersweet experience.
"It's very exciting to feel like you're in the middle of history and to know everything that's going on and then to leave that and not know day-today, to read the newspaper but not really know what lies behind is kind of frustrating," she said.
There is an upside, however, Shirk said: "I'm writing [a book] for a broader audience and I probably wouldn't have written it that way had I not served in government."
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