The Diplomatic Instrument of Power in the Indo-Pacific Region: A Former Ambassador’s Perspective

What diplomatic successes and/or challenges might we anticipate in the Indo-Pacific in 2022? U.S. Ambassador Daniel Shields will offer his perspective on the Diplomatic Instrument of Power and what to expect in the Indo-Pacific from the world of diplomacy in 2022. He will focus on the South China Sea, an issue on which he worked throughout his 33yr. Foreign Service career, especially as Ambassador to Brunei (2011-14), Chargé d’Affaires (acting Ambassador) to the U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia in 2017, and Chargé d’Affaires at Embassy Singapore in 2009.

Ambassador Shields will also discuss Korean Peninsula nuclear diplomacy, on which he worked as Political Minister Counselor at Embassy Beijing (2004-2007) during the Six-Party Talks, hosted by China and involving the United States, North Korea or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), South Korea or the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, and Russia.

Finally, he will address the relationship between the diplomatic instrument and the other instruments of power, including the military, economic, and informational instruments, drawing on his work as Diplomatic Advisor to the Commandant at the U.S. Army War College (2015-18.).

Speaker Bio:

Ambassador (ret.) Daniel Shields is Editorial Advisor to the Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, lectures, teaches, and conducts simulations relating to diplomacy and the Indo-Pacific. The institutions he collaborates with include the U.S. Army War College, the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
Before retirng from the U.S. State Department in 2018, he served on detail from State, starting in 2015, as the Diplomatic Advisor to the Commandant at the Army War College. In that capacity, he helped educate future strategic leaders on how to integrate the diplomatic, informational, military, and economic (DIME) instruments of power to achieve national security objectives. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam from 2011-14. He led two other U.S. diplomatic Missions in Southeast Asia as Chargé d’Affaires (acting Ambassador): the U.S. Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta and U.S. Embassy Singapore.

His earlier assignments were mainly in Japan and China, including as Political Minister Counselor at Embassy Beijing from 2004-07. He speaks Japanese and Chinese. His first tour in the Foreign Service was as a Vice Consul at Embassy Manila from 1985-87, where he reported to Washington on the People Power demonstrations and the fall of the Marcos regime. He has an M.S degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College and a B.S.F.S. degree in International Affairs from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University