Business Intelligence From an Expert in the China Market
China Strategies Group, LLC is a bespoke strategic political and financial risk consultancy focused exclusively on providing multidimensional analysis and expert advice to companies interested in developments in China and the impact the country’s resurgence on the world stage is having on the global economy and the international order. The firm was established in 2012 by President & CEO Christopher K. Johnson after an illustrious twenty-year career in the U.S. Intelligence Community working for the Central Intelligence Agency.
We founded the firm based on the following three simple principles:
- An elite advisory firm must offer its clients explanatory power regarding key policy developments in China as they occur but also must strive to provide predictive power whenever possible.
- That aspiration has become increasingly challenging in the era of President Xi Jinping. Providing clients with high-quality, actionable business intelligence on developments in China is harder than ever, despite the proliferation of information related to the country and of firms offering such services. The policy landscape has become more opaque as informal policy channels have supplanted formal ones, and the secretive Chinese Communist Party has reasserted its primacy in all areas of policy formulation and execution.
- No amount of statistical data or reasoned speculative analysis can replace regular policy insight gleaned from sustained, on-the-ground contact with senior Chinese policymakers and other authoritative elite voices. We believe our network of contacts in China offers unrivaled access to such insights.
Our Clients
Our clients represent a diverse set of companies with interests in China ranging from Fortune 100 firms to boutique financial houses. We support clients engaged in on-the-ground manufacturing and services in China and offer insight to firms that, although not formally invested in China, seek to better understand the country’s impacts on global markets and the world economy. Whether directly or through our network of providers, we offer our clients the full range of advisory services, including analytics, due diligence support, assistance with navigating regulatory or other business challenges, and on-the-ground support to visiting executives. We make it our job to understand each client’s unique interests and needs and to customize our support to suit those needs. Clients will never receive canned newsletters or slide presentations from China Strategies Group—just the reliable, tailored advice and insight that makes us a highly sought-after strategic advisory firm.
Our Team
Christopher K. Johnson is the President and CEO of China Strategies Group. As one of the top China experts in the field, his insights frequently are sought out by the world’s leading corporate, financial, and other business interests to help develop strategies for clients pursuing opportunities in China and regionally. Chris is based in Washington, DC but spends nearly half his time in China and the rest of Asia.
An accomplished Asian affairs specialist, Chris spent nearly two decades serving in the United States Government’s intelligence and foreign affairs communities. In addition to his work advising multinational corporations on their business and commercial strategies in China and greater East Asia, his insights on the Chinese leadership and on Beijing’s economic, commercial, foreign and security policies are regularly sought by senior Administration, Congressional, military, and foreign government officials.
Chris worked as a senior China analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he chronicled China’s dynamic political and economic transformation, the development of its robust military modernization program, and Beijing’s resurgence as a regional and global power. He served abroad in field sites throughout East Asia and speaks Mandarin Chinese.
Chris was an intelligence liaison to two Secretaries of State and their deputies on worldwide security issues and in 2011 was awarded the U.S. Department of State’s Superior Honor Award for outstanding support to the Secretary and her senior staff. He also served with distinction in providing daily intelligence support to President George W. Bush. Chris graduated summa cum laude with bachelor’s degrees in history and political science from the University of California, San Diego and received his master’s degree in Security Policy Studies from the George Washington University. He is married and has two children.
