Murray Hiebert

Murray is a top Asia expert and skilled researcher with three decades of experience living and working in Asia. His networks in business, media and government circles are deep and wide-ranging.

He is also a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Earlier he served as deputy director of the program for six years. Prior to joining CSIS, Murray served for five years as senior director for Southeast Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce where he worked with leading American companies, the U.S. government and Southeast Asian counterparts to develop trade and investment opportunities between the United States and Asia.

Murray joined the U.S. Chamber from the Wall Street Journal’s China bureau where he covered trade, intellectual property rights and China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. Prior to his posting to Beijing, he worked for the Wall Street Journal Asia and the Far Eastern Economic Review in Washington, reporting on U.S.-Asia relations.

From 1995 to 1999, Murray was based in Malaysia for the Far Eastern Economic Review. He covered the Asian financial crisis and also reported on developments in Singapore. In the early 1990s, he was based in Hanoi for the Review, reporting on Vietnam’s economic reforms and opening to the outside world. Murray joined the Review’s Bangkok bureau in 1986, covering political and economic developments in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. He authored two books on Vietnam, Chasing the Tigers and Vietnam Notebook. His newest book, Under Beijing’s Shadow: Southeast Asia’s China Challenge, is available starting August 2020.

Murray holds a master’s degree in news media studies from American University.