David Coates (born 13 November 1947) is a retired

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

, former Ambassador to Ivory Coast and Director General of the British Trade & Cultural Office (BTCO) in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

. Coates was educated at the History Department,

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, then he studied

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

at the Stanford Center of

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

from 1972 to 1973, and taught in Taiwanese

cram school A cram school, informally called crammer and colloquially also referred to as test-prep or exam factory, is a specialized school that trains its students to achieve particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schoo ...

s. After joining the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

(FCO), Coates worked at the British Embassy Beijing as First Secretary (Commercial), from 1989 to 1992 he was assigned to Beijing again, as Counsellor (Political) and Deputy Chief of Mission. After returning to London, he served as the Head of Joint Assistance Unit (Central and Eastern Europe) from 1993 to 1995. and was promoted to the Head of Far East and Pacific Department (1995–98). In 1999, he went to Taipei to take the post of Director General BTCO in succession of

Alan Stanley Collins Sir Alan Stanley Collins, KCVO, CMG (; born 1 April 1948), is a retired British diplomat and former Consul General in New York City (2007–11), High Commissioner to Singapore (2003–07) and Ambassador to the Philippines (1998–2002). Co ...

, who was appointed as British Ambassador to the Philippines. Leaving his post in Taiwan in 2002, Coates served as the FCO's estate modernisation manager until 2004. and served as the ambassador to Ivory Coast from 2004 to 2006. After retiring from the foreign service, Coates became a research fellow of Taiwan Studies at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of European Studies,

Tamkang University Tamkang University (TKU; ) is a private university in Tamsui District, New Taipei City, Taiwan. It was founded in 1950 as a junior college of English literature. Today it is a comprehensive university with 11 colleges that serves nearly 25,000 ...

, Taiwan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coates, David 1947 births Living people Representatives of the United Kingdom to Taiwan Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ivory Coast Alumni of the University of Bristol National Taiwan University alumni Academic staff of Tamkang University