President-elect Donald Trump is considering Georgetown University’s Asian Studies program director Victor Cha as a potential candidate to become the Asia director at the National Security Council, according to The Washington Post on Jan. 9.
The Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin reported that Trump’s transition team is “considering top former George W. Bush administration officials” for Asia-related positions in the national security bureaucracy. Cha previously served as a White House Asia director.
Rogin predicted in his column that the new Asia director “could have critical roles in guiding Trump’s Asia policy.”
Cha, who is also a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, specialized in shaping foreign policies regarding North Korea in the Bush administration.
An outspoken critic of North Korea, Cha has repeatedly told the media that the Trump administration must impose secondary boycotts against countries that are trading with the communist regime.
Meanwhile, journalist Matt Pottinger is already expected to be named National Security Council senior director for Asia.
However, The Washington Post reported that Trump may search for a candidate who has a deeper understanding of China for the National Security Council’s Asia director. Pottinger, who majored in Chinese at the University of Massachusetts, worked as a Beijing correspondent for the Wall Street Journal for five years in the past.
