David Coates (born 13 November 1947)[2] is a retired British diplomat, scholar, former Ambassador to Ivory Coast and Director General of the British Trade & Cultural Office (BTCO) in Taipei.

After returning to London, he served as the Head of Joint Assistance Unit (Central and Eastern Europe) from 1993 to 1995.

[5]: p958  In 1999, he went to Taipei to take the post of Director General BTCO in succession of Alan Stanley Collins, who was appointed as British Ambassador to the Philippines.

[6] Leaving his post in Taiwan in 2002,[1] Coates served as the FCO's estate modernisation manager until 2004.

[5]: p105  After retiring from the foreign service, Coates became a research fellow of Taiwan Studies at the University of Oxford, and a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of European Studies, Tamkang University, Taiwan.