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Launch of the 2024 Asia Power Index: (Canberra) Will China gain uncontested primacy in Asia?
This Canberra event marked the launch of the 2024 Asia Power Index, the Lowy Institute's annual assessment of the distribution of power among 27 countries in Asia.
In Asia, a battle of narratives rages. Many believe China is already an unassailably dominant force, while US primacists see it as weak, vulnerable and ultimately containable. Still others, including US allies such as Australia and Japan, tout the emergence of a multipolar Indo-Pacific that could arrest China's ambitions for regional hegemony.
What do the findings of the Asia Power Index say about these prevailing narratives? And what role can third countries play in Asia's power politics and in its regional order?
To explore these questions, Professor Hugh White AO joined two Lowy Institute scholars – Project Lead for the Asia Power Index Susannah Patton and the Institute's Director of Research Hervé Lemahieu, who developed the Index in 2018 – for an in-depth conversation, chaired by Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute.
Featuring
Hugh White
Professor Hugh White AO FASSA is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Susannah Patton
Susannah Patton is Director, Asia Engagement at RMIT and a Nonresident fellow at the Lowy Institute.
Hervé Lemahieu
Hervé Lemahieu was a senior researcher at the Lowy Institute and served as Director of Research from 2021 to 2025.
Richard McGregor
Richard McGregor is Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute, and is a former Beijing and Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times and the author of numerous books on East Asia.
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