 Seal of the United States Department of State | |
| Office overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2022 |
| Employees | 60–70[1] |
| Office executive |
|
| Parent department | U.S. Department of State Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs |
The Office of China Coordination (OCC), informally known as China House, is a unit of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs under the U.S. State Department that coordinates information-sharing and policy towards the People's Republic of China.[1][2]
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The OCC replaced the China Desk of Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in December 2022.[1] The office has between 60 and 70 employees, including people detailed from other departments on topics such as international security, economics, technology, multilateral diplomacy, and strategic communication.[1][3][4] The reorganization, launched by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was described as a centerpiece of the Biden administration's diplomatic efforts in a global rivalry between the United States and China.[1][2]
Officials told Politico that the OCC would eliminate some silos among redundant government bodies and streamline policymaking.[1] Politico described it as analogous to the Central Intelligence Agency's China Mission Center, in that both entities would be hubs for directing funding, resources and personnel.[1] Before the reorganization, some former State Department officials had voiced concerns about adding another layer of bureaucracy, and a spokesperson for Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho called the OCC a "bureaucratic power grab".[5][1] Risch held up the reorganization for some months until his concerns were allayed.[1]
In May 2023, Reuters reported "morale problems" at the OCC potentially stemming from lack of prioritization of China issues from State Department leadership, and that then-OCC Chief Rick Waters (who subsequently joined the Eurasia Group as managing director for China)[6] will be stepping down from the post.[7][8] In September 2023, the State Department announced Waters will be succeeded by Mark Baxter Lambert, confirming WSJ's August 2023 reporting citing unnamed sources familiar with the decision.[9][10]
