Riley Walters is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow with the Global Taiwan Institute and Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute. His areas of expertise include international trade policy, investment regulations, technology and innovation, cybersecurity, and the intersection of economics and national security. He is also an expert on east Asian political affairs, primarily focusing on Japan and Taiwan.
Riley was formerly the Senior Policy Analyst and Economist in The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center. He is also formerly a Penn Kemble Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy, George C. Marshall Fellow with The Heritage Foundation, Mosaic Taiwan Fellow with Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Security Fellow with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Kim Koo Fellow with the Korea Society.
Riley is a prolific writer, contributing extensively to policy papers and media outlets including The Hill, Japan Times, Global Taiwan Brief, The Messenger, The Diplomat, the Washington Times, the National Interest, Geopolitical Intelligence Services, and others. He has also appeared extensively on domestic and international news, television, and radio services including TaiwanPlus, Nikkei Asia, Segye Daily, Al Jazeera, TRT World, Radio Free Asia, Kyodo News, Politico, and more.
Riley has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from George Mason University. He has previously lived in Japan, including one year living with strawberry farmers in Kumamoto prefecture and one year while studying at Sophia University in Tokyo. He is fluent in Japanese.
