Prof. Hugh White

Biography
Publications

Professor Hugh White AO FASSA is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra.  He spent much of his career in the Australian Government, including as International Relations Advisor to Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Deputy Secretary for Strategy in the Department of Defence. He was the founding Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and from 2004 to 2011 he was Head of ANU’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. His major publications include Power Shift: Australia’s future between Washington and Beijing, [2010], The China Choice: Why America should share power, [2012], Without America: Australia’s future in the New Asia [2017], How to defend Australia [2019] and Sleepwalk to War: Australia’s Unthinking Alliance with America [2022]. In the 1970s he studied philosophy at the universities of Melbourne and Oxford.

COVIDcast: Hugh White on Coronavirus and Asia’s power balance
COVIDcast: Hugh White on Coronavirus and Asia’s power balance
The latest episode in a podcast to discuss the implications of coronavirus for Australia, the region and the world.
Clear messages required in Twitter-age of diplomacy
Clear messages required in Twitter-age of diplomacy
A distinction as a point of law might not work as practical diplomacy.
How Australia can help avoid a disastrous Korean war
How Australia can help avoid a disastrous Korean war
Australia should say publicly that it will take no part in any pre-emptive US strike on North Korea.
What the US would need to deter China
What the US would need to deter China
China's leaders would very reluctantly back down if they were truly convinced that the alternative was war with America. But how would the US convince them of that?
Let’s be clear: China would call America’s bluff in the South China Sea
Let’s be clear: China would call America’s bluff in the South China Sea
Beijing is not just trying to take control of an important body of water. It is trying to take control of East Asia and hopes to use the South China Sea dispute to do that.
South China Sea: US policy must begin at home
South China Sea: US policy must begin at home
Washington should forget about the South China Sea for a while and focus instead on rebuilding the credibility of America’s strategic commitment to Asia where it matters most –…
China v US: Who needs allies?
China v US: Who needs allies?
America’s alliances are not much of an asset at all in managing relations with China. Indeed they are in many ways a net liability, because the benefits they offer are offset by…
Trump is not serious about dealing with North Korea
Trump is not serious about dealing with North Korea
Trump’s signature mix of tough talk and feeble action is having exactly the effect his critics always expected and feared. It weakens America’s position in Asia, and strengthens…
Who makes the rules? A dialogue on law and power in Asia's new order
Who makes the rules? A dialogue on law and power in Asia's new order
A lightly edited transcript of an email exchange between Professor Hugh White, author of 'The China Choice: Why America Should Share Power', and Lowy Institute Senior Fellow Sam…
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