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.

A Trump win splits the East Asian triangle
A Trump win splits the East Asian triangle
Much commentary about China and the US election has suggested Beijing prefers Trump. In fact, the opposite might be the case.
Harris 1.0
Data Snapshot
Harris 1.0
What Kamala Harris’ election would mean for Australia and the world
Kamala Harris and China: Competition and antagonism, continued
Kamala Harris and China: Competition and antagonism, continued
Harris is largely a blank slate on China policy. She is likely to stick to Biden policy positions and instincts, which means relations will remain rocky.
Beijing could do without Trump’s unpredictability on steroids
Commentary
Beijing could do without Trump’s unpredictability on steroids
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
Trump 2.0
Data Snapshot
Trump 2.0
What Donald Trump’s return would mean for Australia and the world
The smarter way to exploit China’s technical expertise
Commentary
The smarter way to exploit China’s technical expertise
Originally published in the Financial Review
Australia-China ties are not ready for AUKUS
Commentary
Australia-China ties are not ready for AUKUS
Originally published on the Australian Financial Review
Who is Chinese Premier, Li Qiang?
Who is Chinese Premier, Li Qiang?
Low expectations for China’s 2iC, in name at least, might miss the results of his quiet influence.
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