Richard McGregor

Senior Fellow for East Asia
Areas of expertise

China’s political system and the workings and structure of the communist party; China’s foreign relations, with an emphasis on ties with Japan, the two Koreas, and Southeast Asia; Australia’s relations with Asia.

Richard McGregor
Biography
Publications
News and media

Richard McGregor is Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute, Australia’s premier foreign policy think tank, in Sydney.

Richard is a former Beijing and Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times and the author of numerous books on East Asia.

His most recent book, Xi Jinping: The Backlash, was published by Penguin Australia as a Lowy Institute Paper in August 2019. His book on Sino-Japanese relations, Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century (Penguin Books, 2017), was called “shrewd and knowing” by the Wall Street Journal and the “best book of the year” by the Literary Review in the United Kingdom. In late 2018, it won the Prime Minister of Australia’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. His book, The Party (Penguin Books, 2010), on the inner-workings of the Chinese Communist Party, was translated into seven languages and chosen by the Asia Society and Mainichi Shimbun in Japan as their book of the year.

Richard is a Senior Associate (Non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the United States. He was also a visiting scholar at the Wilson Center and George Washington University in Washington DC from 2014-2016.

With an ailing domestic economy, can China still pursue its global plans?
Commentary
With an ailing domestic economy, can China still pursue its global plans?
Soaring unemployment and a struggling economy must be tackled before its leaders can return to threats and bluster. Originally published in The Guardian.
There is no quick fix to our parlous relationship with China
Commentary
There is no quick fix to our parlous relationship with China
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
China's coronavirus aid to Pacific islands is part of geopolitical game
Commentary
China's coronavirus aid to Pacific islands is part of geopolitical game
Beijing is using health care to improve relations in strategically significant area. Originally published in the Nikkei Asian Review. 
Why Xi will shelter behind the great wall of secrecy
Commentary
Why Xi will shelter behind the great wall of secrecy
Beijing will oppose an international investigation into the pandemic because accountability would put the one-party system in the dock. Originally published in the Australian…
The World After COVID
Analyses
The World After COVID
How will the COVID-19 pandemic change the world? Lowy Institute experts provide their analysis.
The World After COVID‑19
Interactives
The World After COVID‑19
  How will the coronavirus pandemic change the world? Lowy Institute experts provide their analysis.
COVIDcast episode 3: The China story
COVIDcast episode 3: The China story
The latest episode in a podcast to discuss the implications of coronavirus for Australia, the region, and the world.
COVIDcast Episode 3: the China story
Podcasts
COVIDcast Episode 3: the China story
COVIDcast is a Lowy Institute pop-up podcast for anyone interested in understanding the effect of coronavirus on global politics. Each week for the next few weeks, Lowy Institute…
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