In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, China is facing a sustained economic downturn for the first time in decades, a development with profound implications not just for Australia, but for global growth. On Wednesday 15 July, the Lowy Institute's Richard McGregor hosted a discussion with three eminent Chinese economists: Xu Xiaonian of the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, Huang Yiping of Peking University and Wang Jiao of the University of Melbourne. They discussed the prospects for China’s economy and the debate inside the government on possible stimulus measures.

So close, but so far apart: only a few kilometres separate Papua New Guinea and Australia at the Torres Strait – but the coronavirus pandemic has made that close geography seem a world away. Travel between the two countries requires a substantial amount of time in quarantine and that has put business, tourism, education and the diplomatic relationship under pressure. While Australia is dealing with a pandemic flare-up, PNG tentatively hopes it has escaped the worst from the virus for now. Minds are now turning to what happens next: when relations can return to normal, what will have changed in the PNG-Australia relationship? What should be the priorities for two countries that share geography, history and economic interests? On Wednesday 15 July, Lowy Institute Non-Resident Fellow Annmaree O’Keeffe hosted a discussion with former Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to Australia Sir Charles Lepani and former Australian High Commissioner to PNG Ian Kemish.

On Wednesday 8 July, the Lowy Institute hosted an event discussing the findings of the recent Lowy Institute Annual Poll. The discussion was chaired by Alex Oliver, Director of Research, Natasha Kassam, Research Fellow in the Diplomacy and Public Opinion Program and Peter Hartcher, Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow and International Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. Topics covered included: how Australians' attitudes to the world and international relations are changing, important shifts in views of the United States, China and their respective leaders, and critical policy issues such as climate change, global cooperation, and the role of intelligence agencies.

On Tuesday 30 June, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist. Questions they addressed included - What have we learned from the pandemic about the state of globalisation? Has the US-China rivalry now become a fully fledged cold war? Is America too wounded to be the “leader of the free world”?

Zanny Minton Beddoes is the Editor-in-Chief of The Economist. Previously she was the business affairs editor, economics editor and The Economist’s emerging-markets correspondent. Ms Minton Beddoes joined the newspaper in 1994 after spending two years as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she worked on macroeconomic adjustment programs in Africa and the transition economies of Eastern Europe. Before joining the IMF, she worked as an adviser to the minister of finance in Poland.

On Thursday 11 June, Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an ‘in conversation’ online event with Kurt Campbell and Michèle Flournoy. They discussed the US presidential election, Washington’s relations with Beijing, the global implications of the coronavirus pandemic, and the unrest on America's streets.

Kurt Campbell served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration, where he is widely credited as a key architect of the “pivot to Asia.” He is CEO of The Asia Group, and serves as Chairman of the Board of the Center for a New American Security.

Michèle Flournoy served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2012. She is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors and Co-Founder and former CEO of the Center for a New American Security, where she serves on the board.

Lowy Institute Research Fellow Ben Bland led a discussion on the future of Hong Kong with three people who have been at the heart of recent events: pro-democracy lawmaker Dennis Kwok, human rights activist Bonnie Leung and Financial Times correspondent Sue-Lin Wong.

China’s decision to unilaterally implement national security legislation in Hong Kong has dealt a heavy blow to the city’s freedoms and autonomy. This latest move comes after years of intensifying pressure from Beijing, which has struck at the foundations of Hong Kong’s success as a global financial centre: individual liberties and the rule of law. With thousands of democracy activists already arrested in the last year and Beijing’s interventions becoming ever more intrusive, is this the end of Hong Kong as we know it?

PANEL

Dennis Kwok is a practicing barrister and a pro-democracy member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, representing the legal profession. First elected to LegCo in 2012, Dennis is a member of the executive committee of the Civic Party. Dennis graduated and received his LLB from King’s College London in 1999 and was called to the Hong Kong Bar in 2006.

Bonnie Leung is a democracy activist and a member of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organised the massive peaceful protests against Hong Kong’s controversial extradition bill last year. A former district councillor, she also served as an international spokesperson for the anti-extradition bill movement.

Sue-Lin Wong is the Financial Times' South China correspondent, covering the pro-democracy protests on the ground in Hong Kong. In 2019, she opened the FT's bureau in Shenzhen, where Chinese tech giants Huawei and Tencent are headquartered. She will be joining The Economist as a China correspondent in July. Sue-Lin graduated from the Australian National University.

Ben Bland is a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute who focuses on Hong Kong, as well as directing the Institute's Southeast Asia Program. He is the author of Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China’s Shadow and was formerly the South China Correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Hong Kong.

On Wednesday 27 May, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an in conversation event via live video stream with Carl Bildt.

Carl Bildt was Sweden’s foreign minister from 2006 to 2014 and prime minister from 1991 to 1994, when he negotiated Sweden’s EU accession. A renowned international diplomat, he served as EU Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia, High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, UN Special Envoy to the Balkans, and Co-Chairman of the Dayton Peace Conference. He is Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations.

The conversation examined topics such as such the state of the European Union after Brexit and COVID-19, Sweden’s controversial approach to controlling the pandemic, and the transatlantic alliance as America’s presidential election approaches and Angela Merkel’s term draws to a close.

On Thursday 30 April, Richard McGregor, Lowy Institute Senior Fellow and a former Beijing bureau chief for both The Australian and The Financial Times, hosted a live-streamed event with Josh Chin, deputy China bureau chief (in exile) of the Wall Street Journal, Anna Fifield, Beijing bureau chief for The Washington Post, and Jane Perlez, Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times. China has expelled a record number of foreign journalists in recent months, mostly Americans, but also a number of Australians. Although the expulsions have been part of a tit-for-tat battle between Washington and Beijing over the status of journalists in both countries, they also reflect a tougher attitude to foreign criticism by Beijing, and a more uncompromising foreign policy generally.