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.

Why the Peak China story is overdone
Commentary
Why the Peak China story is overdone
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
Why Taiwan’s election is a disaster for China and dilemma for the West
Commentary
Why Taiwan’s election is a disaster for China and dilemma for the West
Originally published on the Australian Financial Review
The Beijing blowback should Australia get closer to Taiwan
The Beijing blowback should Australia get closer to Taiwan
Bilateral initiatives are not the only way for Australia to bolster Taiwan and signal its support.
The Fix: On the origin of species
The Fix: On the origin of species
Your weekly Interpreter feature about issues, resources and helpful distractions that might otherwise be missed.
Labor's AUKUS woes a boon for Beijing
Commentary
Labor's AUKUS woes a boon for Beijing
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review, 3 November 2023.
China-Australia thaw reveals limits of Beijing's economic coercion
Commentary
China-Australia thaw reveals limits of Beijing's economic coercion
Originally published in Nikkei Asia, 25 October 2023.
China is steadily building an alternative world order
Commentary
China is steadily building an alternative world order
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review on 29 September 2023.
China's grip on Southeast Asia tightens as U.S. influence wanes
Commentary
China's grip on Southeast Asia tightens as U.S. influence wanes
Originally published in Nikkei Asia
How does Australia square AUKUS with Taiwan?
Commentary
How does Australia square AUKUS with Taiwan?
Will the nuclear submarine deal with Washington drag Australia into a conflict with China? Not if Canberra uses its diplomatic powers well. Originally published in the Australian…
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