Nicholas Burns is Ambassador of the United States of America to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nominated by President Biden, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December 2021. As Ambassador, he leads a team of experienced, dedicated, and diverse public servants from forty-seven U.S. government agencies and sub-agencies at the U.S. Mission in China, including at the Embassy in Beijing and at the American Consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Shenyang. He oversees the Mission’s interaction with the PRC on the full range of political, security, economic, commercial, consular, and many other issues that shape this critical relationship. Ambassador Burns has had a long career in American diplomacy serving six Presidents and nine Secretaries of State, including as State Department Spokesperson (1995-1997), Ambassador to Greece (1997-2001), Ambassador to NATO (2001-2005), Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2005-2008), and as a member of the Foreign Policy Advisory Board of Secretary of State John Kerry (2014-2017). Ambassador Burns has received fifteen honorary degrees, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award and the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award. He is a graduate of Boston College (BA History 1978) and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (MA International Relations 1980).