Richard R. Vuylsteke, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong for the past eight years, has been selected as the next president of the East-West Center.

He will replace Charles Morrison next year, according to the center’s board of governors.

Morrison became the center’s president in 1998 and is credited with expanding its programs and reach, and helping to rebuild its finances after Congress cut its budget from $24 million in 1995 to $10 million in 1997.

Vuylsteke has served as president of the American Chamber in Taipei, editor-in-chief of the Taiwan Review, and area studies coordinator for the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Institute in Taipei. Early in his career, he was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Rajasthan, India.

He earned his Ph.D. in Asian and Western Social and Political Philosophy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He taught at the University of Hawaii from 1973-86, and at Chaminade University. He also worked for a period for the Pacific Forum (now Pacific Forum/CSIS).