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
Joko Widodo's Indonesia: Control and reform
Journal Articles
Joko Widodo's Indonesia: Control and reform
In this paper for The Economist Intelligence Unit's Hopes and doubts: Perspectives on the long road to Indonesia' economic development, Aaron L Connelly examines…
What the Washington Post gets wrong about Southeast Asia
The Washington Post editorial board, which has long argued for a vocal and uncompromising emphasis on democracy promotion in American foreign policy, has published an editorial…
Mekong: New photos reveal true scale of dam
Xayaburi Dam under construction, July 2015. (Taken from this PP presentation by Pöyry, posted on a Laos government site.) In an Interpreter post on 14 December 2015 ('What's…
How China's world views are manifested in the South China Sea
With the ongoing controversy over China's activities in the South China Sea. it is timely to explore how Chinese worldviews play out in practice. In particular, how they underpin…
COP21, China's role and developed nations' obligations as reported in Chinese media
By Marie-Alice McLean-Dreyfus, an intern with the Lowy Institute's East Asia program Coverage of the Paris climate conference by China's media has been largely positive, with…
Chinese worldviews and China’s foreign policy
Analyses
Chinese worldviews and China’s foreign policy
Four key narratives help explain the way that China acts in and interprets the world, providing a more nuanced guide to China’s aims and ambitions and helping to shape more…
Who Will Rule Myanmar?
Journal Articles
Who Will Rule Myanmar?
Originally published in Foreign Affairs. Photo: Getty Images/Anadolu AgencyAaron L Connelly
Divergent views: How the Taiwanese and China media reacted to the historic leaders meeting
By Jackson Kwok and Marie-Alice McLean-Dreyfus, interns with the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program Comparing cross-strait coverage of the historic meeting between Xi Jinping and…
Jakarta visit is big gesture, but is it the right one?
Commentary
Jakarta visit is big gesture, but is it the right one?
Jakarta visit is big gesture, but is it the right one? Aaron L. Connelly Australian Financial Review 10 November 2015 Click here for the online text.Aaron L Connelly
Double trouble: China's bid to increase birth rate is no sure thing
By Marie-Alice McLean-Dreyfus, an intern with the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program China's historic policy change to allow all couples to have two children was presented as an…