Programs & Projects

The North Asia Program

The China and East Asia Program

The China and East Asia Program conducts research on the politics and foreign policy of China and its immediate neighbours in Northeast Asia: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and the Korean peninsula. The program is renowned for its particular focus on China’s domestic politics and how this helps to shape its external behaviour. From 2020, the Institute’s extensive research on Southeast Asia – including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Myanmar – is now incorporated in a dedicated Southeast Asia Program. Each Program also commissions work by other scholars on the broader region. To complement their written research, Lowy Institute experts hold a robust series of dialogues and events on the politics of the region, independently and in partnership with other organisations.

Photo: Jung Yeon-Je-Pool/Getty Images

Experts
Latest publications
News and media
China’s foreign policy in Afghanistan
Analyses
China’s foreign policy in Afghanistan
In this Lowy Institute Analysis, Dirk van der Kley examines China's policy options in Afghanistan, once the NATO-led mission there comes to an end in December 2014.Dirk van der…
Indonesian foreign policy under President Jokowi
Analyses
Indonesian foreign policy under President Jokowi
In this Lowy Institute Analysis, Aaron L. Connelly previews the likely direction of Indonesian foreign policy under President-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, highlighting…
Japan's continuing confidence in the alliance
The views expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily represent those of National Institute for Defense Studies or the Japanese Ministry of Defense. I am inspired…
Should the US retrench from South Korea? Part 2: No
A couple of days ago I laid out the arguments for a US withdrawal from South Korea. Today, I lay out the arguments for staying. This topic is rarely discussed. In the US, the…
China-Japan competition: Hugh White responds
The four excellent responses to my post on China-Japan relations all present important points about Japan's situation and its options in the face of China's growing power. Just…
China links: SCO, Muslim faith revival, graft, China dream, Taiwan, Xinjiang and more
There are reports that a group of North Korean defectors held by China on the Laos border have been released rather than being repatriated as usual. Activists in Taiwan and Hong…
Should the US retrench from South Korea? Yes
Over at War on the Rocks, Christopher Lee (a former officer in the US Forces Korea [USFK]) and Tom Nichols (of the US Naval War College) have gotten into a useful debate on…
A breakthrough in Chinese climate policy? Not likely
I argued back in April that China's 'synthetic natural gas' (syngas or SNG, which is gas made from coal) is 'bad economics, bad science and an environmental catastrophe'. I also…
What Beijing fears most: Intra-Asian balancing
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a rising China, in possession of a modernising military, must be in want of a non-militarised Japan. So is Beijing being foolish by…
China's strategy to sow distrust of Japan
Promoting mutual distrust in the Asia Pacific now appears central to Chinese strategy. As Hugh White has argued persuasively, China seeks greater influence in Asia through…