Richard McGregor

Senior Fellow for East Asia
Areas of expertise

China’s political system and the workings and structure of the communist party; China’s foreign relations, with an emphasis on ties with Japan, the two Koreas, and Southeast Asia; Australia’s relations with Asia.

Richard McGregor
Biography
Publications
News and media

Richard McGregor is Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute, Australia’s premier foreign policy think tank, in Sydney.

Richard is a former Beijing and Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times and the author of numerous books on East Asia.

His most recent book, Xi Jinping: The Backlash, was published by Penguin Australia as a Lowy Institute Paper in August 2019. His book on Sino-Japanese relations, Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century (Penguin Books, 2017), was called “shrewd and knowing” by the Wall Street Journal and the “best book of the year” by the Literary Review in the United Kingdom. In late 2018, it won the Prime Minister of Australia’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. His book, The Party (Penguin Books, 2010), on the inner-workings of the Chinese Communist Party, was translated into seven languages and chosen by the Asia Society and Mainichi Shimbun in Japan as their book of the year.

Richard is a Senior Associate (Non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the United States. He was also a visiting scholar at the Wilson Center and George Washington University in Washington DC from 2014-2016.

Trump wants China to help him win. China wants nothing to do with him.
Commentary
Trump wants China to help him win. China wants nothing to do with him.
What Xi Jinping and his top Communist Party deputies think of the U.S. president. Originally published in the Washington Post.Richard McGregor
China's capture of Hong Kong's elite has failed to win popular favor
Commentary
China's capture of Hong Kong's elite has failed to win popular favor
Western business and political leaders now reject Beijing's enticements. Originally published in Nikkei Asian Review.Richard McGregor
PM must fill China policy vacuum
Commentary
PM must fill China policy vacuum
Dealing with the Chinese is an art that Australia is still struggling to emulate. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.Richard McGregor
Party Man: Xi Jinping’s Quest to Dominate China
Commentary
Party Man: Xi Jinping’s Quest to Dominate China
Originally published in Foreign Affairs. Richard McGregor
Is a crackdown coming in Hong Kong?
Commentary
Is a crackdown coming in Hong Kong?
Originally published in The New York TimesRichard McGregor
How the state runs business in China
Commentary
How the state runs business in China
Originally published in The Guardian. Richard McGregor
Xi Jinping: The Backlash
Lowy Institute Papers
Xi Jinping: The Backlash
By the author of the acclaimed The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers 
Singapore steers the US-China extremes at Shangri-la
Singapore steers the US-China extremes at Shangri-la
Was Lee Hsien Loong critical of China, giving the stick to America, or perhaps resigned he could please neither?
Countering Hanson's legacy in Asia
Commentary
Countering Hanson's legacy in Asia
For a country which has squandered its soft power over the last decade, Australia needs to grab foreign policy advantages where it finds them. Originally published in the…
Top