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.

No news is not good news
No news is not good news
The hasty exit from China of two Australian journalists underscores how much the relationship has soured.
China parties as it plots an anti-decoupling strategy
Commentary
China parties as it plots an anti-decoupling strategy
Superpower politics has begun to directly shape China's economic policies. Expect more changes. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
China has wine in its firing line – will Scott Morrison bail out Australian producers?
Commentary
China has wine in its firing line – will Scott Morrison bail out Australian producers?
With sanctions already in place against beef and barley, Beijing’s ‘anti-dumping’ investigation is designed to punish Canberra over political disputes. Originally published in The…
How China reversed the new Great Game of strategic competition
Commentary
How China reversed the new Great Game of strategic competition
Beijing changes global governance in its own image rather than the other way around. Originally published in the Nikkei Asian Review.
In conversation: Michael Fullilove and Richard McGregor discuss Kamala Harris
Podcasts
In conversation: Michael Fullilove and Richard McGregor discuss Kamala Harris
Was Kamala Harris the right choice for presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden? 
Contemplating Kamala Harris
Contemplating Kamala Harris
A discussion of US presidential candidate Joe Biden’s pick for vice-presidential running mate.
Inside China's coronavirus response
Commentary
Inside China's coronavirus response
If Beijing had been open about its own early failings, instead of triumphantly promoting its later achievements, China’s global image might have been enhanced by the crisis…
COVIDcast: Looking at China from the grassroots, with Dexter Roberts
COVIDcast: Looking at China from the grassroots, with Dexter Roberts
The latest episode in a podcast to discuss the implications of coronavirus for Australia, the region, and the world.
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