The President today announced his intention to nominate J. Stapleton Roy, of Pennsylvania, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the People's Republic of China. He would succeed James Roderick Lilley.

Since 1989 Ambassador Roy has served as Special Assistant to the Secretary and Executive Secretary of the Department of State in Washington, DC. Prior to this Ambassador Roy served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State, 1986 - 1989; as U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, 1984 - 1986; as Deputy Chief of the U.S. Mission in Bangkok, Thailand, 1981 - 1984; as deputy chief of the U.S. mission in Beijing, China, 1979 - 1981; and as Deputy Chief of the U.S. liaison office in Beijing, China, 1978 - 1979. In addition, Ambassador Roy has served as Deputy Director of the Office of People's Republic of China and Mongolian Affairs at the Department of State, 1975 - 1978; studied at the National War College in Washington, DC, 1974 - 1975; and served as a Deputy Director and international relations officer in the Office of Soviet Union Affairs at the Department of State, 1972 - 1974. Ambassador Roy served at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow as a political officer, 1979 - 1972; as an administrative officer, 1978 - 1979; and as an international relations officer in the Office of European and Canadian Affairs and the Office of Soviet Affairs at the Department of State, 1965 - 1968. Ambassador Roy has also served in several U.S. Embassies and consulates, including: political officer in Taipei, 1962 - 1964; consular officer in Hong Kong, 1962; and political officer in Bangkok, 1959 - 1961. He served as an intelligence analyst at the State Department, 1957 - 1958. Ambassador Roy entered the Foreign Service in 1956.

Ambassador Roy graduated from Princeton University (B.A., 1956). He was born June 16, 1935, in Nanjing, China. Ambassador Roy is married, has three children, and resides in Bethesda, MD.