To mark the launch of the 2020 Asia Power Index, Hervé Lemahieu, Director of the Lowy Institute’s Asian Power and Diplomacy Program, chaired a panel discussion with Joseph S. Nye Jr., Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor, Emeritus and former Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Senator the Hon. Penny Wong, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate; and Professor Yuen Foong Khong, Vice Dean at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

Keep up to date with all Lowy Institute events via our YouTube channel, click and subscribe here  

On Thursday 15 October 2020, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an in conversation event via live video stream with General James Mattis, one of America’s most experienced and influential military leaders. General Mattis spoke about serving as US Secretary of Defense, his career as a US Marine, and the security challenge America faces from a rising China. They were joined by Sir Angus Houston, former Chief of the Australian Defence Force.

This event is part of the Lowy Institute's ‘Australia’s Security and the Rules-Based Order Project’ and is supported by the Department of Defence’s Strategic Policy Grants Program.

On October 8 2020, the Lowy Institute releases the third iteration of its Pacific Aid Map, an analytical tool that collates and analyses data on all aid projects in the Pacific. The Institute held a live online event with regional experts and development partners about how the COVID-19 crisis is playing out in the Pacific. The panel consisted of Audrey Aumua, Deputy Director-General at the Pacific Community; Charlotte Blundell, Assistant Secretary for the Pacific Partnerships & Human Development Branch, DFAT; Alexandre Dayant, research lead of the Lowy Institute's Pacific Aid Map; Michel Kerf, World Bank Country Director for Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands; and moderator Jonathan Pryke, Director of the Lowy Institute Pacific Islands Program.

Keep up to date with all Lowy Institute events via our YouTube channel, click and subscribe here  

Australia's relations with China seem to be reaching new lows each week, with a proliferation of disputes over everything from trade to the media to COVID-19 to universities. On Thursday 24 September, the Lowy Institute hosted a live online event featuring the ABC's Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review's Michael Smith, both recently advised by the Australian government to leave China, along with Kirsty Needham, formerly of the Sydney Morning Herald and now with Reuters, for a discussion of the bilateral relationship. The discussion was moderated by the Lowy Institute's Senior Fellow for North Asia, Richard McGregor.

Keep up to date with all Lowy Institute events via our YouTube channel, click and subscribe here  

On Monday 7 September, the Lowy Institute launched the latest Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House Australia, Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia, the first English-language biography of Indonesian President Joko Widodo. 

Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove spoke with author Ben Bland about what makes the president tick, his struggle to implement reform and tackle the COVID-19 crisis, and why outsiders keep getting Jokowi – and Indonesia – wrong.

Keep up to date with all Lowy Institute events via our YouTube channel, click and subscribe here.  

On Friday 28 August, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an in conversation event via live video stream with Ambassador Samantha Power, one of America’s leading foreign-policy voices, both as a scholar and a Cabinet member in the Obama administration. Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove spoke with Power about US foreign policy under President Donald Trump, Vice President Joe Biden’s worldview, the global implications of the coronavirus pandemic and the future of the US-China relationship.

On Thursday 6 August, Dr Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, joined Dr Rodger Shanahan, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute, for an in conversation event.

The United Arab Emirates has built an increasingly high profile in regional affairs in recent years. Long known for its resource riches and welcoming attitude towards Western expatriates, it has developed and diversified its domestic economy at great speed, and deployed its armed forces on operations in Afghanistan, Yemen and in support of the anti–Islamic State coalition. It also has strong links with Australia, hosting the largest overseas concentration of ADF assets, as well as nearly 20,000 Australian expats, three Australian universities and two Australian international high schools. It is Australia’s main trading partner in the Middle East; more than 300 Australian companies operate there, and the UAE invests more than $11 billion in Australia.

Keep up to date with all Lowy Institute events via our YouTube channel, click and subscribe here

On Wednesday 22 July, the Lowy Institute hosted an in-conversation event with Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove and Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. They discussed the extraordinary presidential election year, the global implications of the coronavirus pandemic, and America’s looming cold war with China.

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.