Susan L. Shirk is an expert on Chinese politics and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State during the Clinton administration. She was in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs (People's Republic of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mongolia). She is currently a professor at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. She is also a Senior Director of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, where she assists clients with issues related to East Asia.