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
How will Japan's new leader handle growing China-US tensions?
Commentary
How will Japan's new leader handle growing China-US tensions?
After years warning others to be wary of Beijing, Tokyo is now adopting a low profile. Originally published in the Nikkei Asian Review.
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.
Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia
Lowy Institute Papers
Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia
The first English-language political biography of Joko Widodo, to be published on 1 September 2020 by Penguin Specials as a Lowy Institute Paper.
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…
Beijing hard-liners kick against Xi Jinping's wolf warrior diplomacy
Commentary
Beijing hard-liners kick against Xi Jinping's wolf warrior diplomacy
Foreign policy hawks concede that current strategy is winning China no new friends. Originally published in the Nikkei Asian Review. 
Western liberalism’s crisis is self-inflicted
Commentary
Western liberalism’s crisis is self-inflicted
Originally published in The Australian.
Global Order in the Shadow of the Coronavirus: China, Russia and the West
Analyses
Global Order in the Shadow of the Coronavirus: China, Russia and the West
It’s time to rethink global governance and its priorities
ABC Radio National Breakfast
21 August 2023
The Sydney Morning Herald
8 August 2023
Australian Financial Review
4 August 2023
Agence France-Presse
26 July 2023
Bloomberg Daybreak
26 July 2023