François Godement is Director of the International Studies Department (DHEI) at Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales), Paris and the former Director of Centre asie ifri at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Paris. He is also co-chair of the European committee of CSCAP (Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific) and a cofounder of CAEC (Council for Asia-Europe Cooperation). An outside consultant to the Policy planning staff of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he specializes in East Asian international relations and strategy, regional integration and Chinese contemporary affairs.

François Godement is a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d’Ulm (Paris), where he majored in history, and a former postgraduate student at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. in contemporary history, has received teaching appointments at the University of California (Irvine) and Inalco. He has also been a consultant to OECD, the European Union and the World Bank.

Prof. Godement writes on Chinese and East Asian strategic and international affairs, issues of integration and conflicts. Among his publications are the following recent books: The New Asian Renaissance (first published in 1993; in English by Routledge, London & New York, 1997); The Downsizing of Asia (Routledge, London & New York, 1999); Chine, Japon, ASEAN. Compétition stratégique ou coopération ? Ifri-La Documentation française, Paris, 1999; Chine-Etats-Unis, Entre méfiance et pragmatisme, La Documentation française, Paris, 2001. He also edits a yearbook : Asie orientale, Les études de la Documentation française, Paris, 2003, and Asie : Chine, Indonésie, Japon, Malaisie, Pakistan, Viêt-nam..., Les études de la Documentation française, Paris, 2004)

He is a frequent contributor to the international press on East Asian international relations and strategy.