A career diplomat and specialist of Asia, where he has served for more than 25 years, Thierry Mathou has held positions including Consul General in Shanghai, and Ambassador to Myanmar, Philippines, and Thailand. He has also served as Director for Asia and Oceania at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. In parallel with his diplomatic career, he has pursued an academic career in Himalayan studies, in the course of which he has devoted much effort to expanding his understanding of India for over forty years.
Thierry Mathou began his career in Washington (1989-1993) before being appointed to Beijing on two occasions (1993-1996 and 1999-2004). He has held several positions in Paris at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, notably at the European Cooperation Directorate (1996-1999), where he was responsible for monitoring trade policy and the European Union’s relations with Asia and Oceania. Next, he was appointed Deputy Director of International Economic and Financial Affairs (2004-2006), and returned thereafter to Asia as Consul General in Shanghai (2006-2010), during which time he coordinated France’s involvement in the 2010 World Expo.
Thierry Mathou has served as ambassador to several countries, first in Myanmar (2011–2015), then in the Philippines (2015–2017), with concurrent accreditation as Non-Resident Ambassador, based in Manila, to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau.
From 2017 to 2020, Dr Mathou was Director for Asia and Oceania at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, where he spearheaded several initiatives, including the launch of France’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific and its development partnership with ASEAN.
As Ambassador to Thailand and Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific from 2020 to 2023, he worked to anchor the Indo-Pacific strategy in Southeast Asia – a period notably marked by the participation of the President of the French Republic in the 2022 APEC Summit in Bangkok – the first time ever for a European head of State or government at this forum.
Minister Plenipotentiary, now Administrator of the State, Thierry Mathou assumed office as Ambassador to India on 17 September 2023.
Thierry Mathou has been an associate researcher at the Centre for Himalayan Studies (UPR 299) of the CNRS since 1989. He is a specialist in the political sociology and geopolitics of the Himalayan world, subjects to which he has devoted numerous articles and books. In this context, he is particularly interested in relations between India and China and the strategic dimension of the Himalayan arc. Bhutan, the subject of his doctoral thesis, is his main field of research. One of his field projects led him to contribute to the revival of the tradition of Tashigomangs, miniature portable shrines closely linked to the history of Buddhism in Bhutan. The Tashigomang and its associated rituals are now considered as treasures of Bhutan’s intangible national heritage.
A graduate of EDHEC (1985), Manchester Business School (1985), and the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (1988), Thierry Mathou holds a doctorate in Political Science and Asian studies, and is fluent in several Asian languages, including Chinese.
Born in 1963, he is married to Cécile Mathou, who, along with him, is also actively engaged in Bhutanese studies. They have three children: Alexandra, François, and Charles.
Thierry Mathou is a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the White Elephant of the Kingdom of Thailand.
