The Lowy Institute

In this episode of Conversations, Hervé Lemahieu talks with Xueyin Zha and Jennifer Hsu about the Chinese messaging app and the role in it plays in the democratic participation of Chinese-Australians. They discuss the inherent risks and drawbacks of WeChat, such as censorship, but also explore how it became a medium of outreach and civic engagement for Chinese-Australians during the 2021 New South Wales local elections. Xueyin Zha is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University, researching the global governance of advanced technology. She is also a researcher at ANU's interdisciplinary research project: Humanising Machine Intelligence. Her current research interests span technology regulation, international politics of the digital economy, and technology's role in multiculturalism.   Jennifer Hsu is a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute’s Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program. She works on the Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa

In this episode of The Director's Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with His Excellency José Ramos-Horta, the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. José and Michael discuss the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, relations between Timor-Leste and Australia and the role of China's in the Indo-Pacific region. José reflects on his time in leadership roles, and the need for his generation to effectively hand on political power to younger generations. José Ramos-Horta was Timor-Leste's first foreign minister when it declared independence from Portugal in 1975. Following Indonesia’s invasion later that year, he became the international voice of the Timorese people. In 1996 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. When Timor-Leste became a new nation following the Popular Consultation of 1999, he returned from exile to serve as the new nation’s first foreign minister. From 2006 to 2007 he served as Prime Minister, and from 2007 to 2012 he served as President. This year he came out of retirement and

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu talks with Nixi Cura to explore and assess some of China’s major soft power initiatives, including its successes and failures over the last five years. They discuss the role of Chinese visual culture, notably contemporary Chinese art as a medium of projecting China’s soft power. Nixi Cura read East Asian Studies at Yale University then specialised in Chinese painting, Buddhist art and Romanesque architecture at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. Nixi was the Director of the Arts of China programs at Christie’s Education in London. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and has held the role of Senior Fellow in the Cultural Leadership program at the Royal Academy of Arts. At SOAS University of London she served as Senior Teaching Fellow in Art History & Archaeology, and as a Doctoral Researcher embarked on a project focusing on the tomb of the Qianlong emperor. Nixi’s publications and rese

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu talks with Sarah Tong to explore and assess some of the key stressors of the Chinese economy and major economic policies that have emerged in the last five years. They discuss the contradictory forces at play that are impeding economic structural reforms, the prospect of slower growth and how the international environment will shape domestic economic priorities. Sarah Tong is a Senior Research Fellow of the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute and leads its economics cluster. She previously worked at the Development Research Centre of China’s State Council. She obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of California at San Diego. Her research interests concentrate on the development and transformation of the Chinese economy, including trade and foreign investment, development of regions, financial sector reforms, reforms of state-owned enterprises, and China’s evolving industrial and technology policies. H

The Chinese Communist Party will shortly hold its 20th National Congress during a highly unsettled period in international affairs. In February, after President Putin and President Xi declared a "friendship without limits", Russia launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine. In August, China responded to US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei with major military exercises. Meanwhile, President Biden has become increasingly vocal in his support for Taiwan. Just days ahead of the CCP Congress, the Lowy Institute hosted the head of one of the most influential think tanks in Washington. Richard Fontaine addressed the Lowy Institute on the present and future of international order. After his remarks, Mr Fontaine spoke with Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove about US security policy in Asia, China’s challenge to the United States and the rules-based order, as well as how the Ukraine war is being viewed in Washington. Richard Fontaine is Chief Executive Officer of the

At a time of significant geopolitical uncertainty, India is taking an ever more prominent role in world affairs. From its membership of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, to the influential part that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played in talks with Russia's President at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, India is asserting its voice on major international issues. Dr S. Jaishankar is India's leading diplomat. Before entering parliament, he was Foreign Secretary, and previously served as Ambassador in Beijing and Washington, DC. Before that he held posts in Tokyo, Moscow, Singapore, Colombo and Budapest. Dr Jaishankar addressed the Lowy Institute on the growing importance of India's relationship with Australia and the interests that both countries share as members of the security-focused Quad. After his remarks, Dr Jaishankar spoke in conversation with Executive Director Michael Fullilove. Dr S. Jaishankar was appointed India's Minister for External Affairs in 2019 following his election to th

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has become an international symbol of resistance as he leads his country’s response to Russia’s brutal invasion. From his defiant leadership on the streets of Kyiv in the early weeks of the attack to his eloquent advocacy on the global stage, President Zelenskyy has become an internationally admired figure at the heart of some of the most remarkable events in world affairs in recent decades. In this special address, President Zelenskyy spoke from Ukraine via live video link. After his address, he spoke in conversation with Executive Director Michael Fullilove.  Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected President of Ukraine in 2019. He graduated from the Kyiv National Economic University in 2000 with a degree in law before co-founding and leading the television production company Kvartal 95, responsible for the comedy series Servant of the People, in which he played a teacher who was unexpectedly elected president. President Zelenskyy's heroic leadership in leading Ukraine’s defence

On 2 September 2022, the Lowy Institute hosted a rare insight into the story of women in the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) from its Director-General, Rachel Noble. ASD is Australia’s foreign signals intelligence, cyber security, and offensive cyber operations agency. At this in-person event, the Director-General shared her experiences as a woman in a male dominated career and her thoughts on what leaders and managers can do to help to continue breaking down barriers for women. Following her speech, the Director-General spoke in conversation with Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove and took questions from the audience. Rachel Noble PSM is the Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate. Prior to her appointment, she was the Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre in the Australian Signals Directorate. Rachel has held senior roles in the Department of Home Affairs, Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and Department of Defence. Rachel was formerly National Secu

In 2021, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) said that right-wing extremism makes up 50 per cent of its priority caseload. Since that announcement, intelligence and law enforcement agencies have disrupted a number of plots related to right-wing extremists in Australia. But this is not only an issue in Australia. There has been a 250 per cent increase in right-wing terrorism globally. So, what exactly is right-wing extremism and how is its potential for violence growing? Why is it a global problem? How does it threaten democracy and what should we do about it? Rise of the Extreme Right answers these questions.Award-winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, whose recent work includes a major investigation on Australian neo-Nazi groups, will launch the book. Lydia Khalil will also speak about her book and her experiences as a counter-terrorism specialist in the United States and Australia. Lydia and Nick will then take questions from our audience.  Lydia Khalil is a Research Fellow at

In this episode of the Aus-PNG Network Leadership Series, Mihai Sora speaks to Andrew Kuliniasi, award-winning playwright and Drama Director at the Moresby Arts Theatre, about how the dramatic arts engage with important social issues in Papua New Guinea.  Andrew tells Mihai about his own work, “Looking at the past informs the future…Meisoga as a play was about a sixteen-year-old girl that had to become the head of her clan, that had to become the matriarch. And I looked at that and I went, wow, this is a story that can inspire other women. And I remember having the lead actress at the time, who is mousy and shy, just become a lion on stage.”  “PNG is such a beautiful country,” says Andrew. “And it’s rich with so many stories and…social issues that happen, and the stories that come from that…may be hard and gritty and tough to swallow, or maybe even beautiful and amazing and triumphant. And I want to be able to show truth and build the industry here. If I’m not going to do it, who is? I can only be the change

With Australia's security focus now firmly on the Pacific, it is easy to dismiss Australia's twenty-year military involvement in the Middle East as an aberration, or simply as a legacy function of our alliance with the United States. Yet Australia's direct connections and interests in the Middle East are much greater now than they were before the country committed military forces to the region. Canberra has a greater diplomatic presence, a military base, deeper economic interests and more significant people-to-people links in the Middle East than ever before. The evacuations by Australian troops from Lebanon in 2006 and Afghanistan in 2021, as well as the direct security threat to Australia posed by the rise of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, show how we cannot insulate ourselves from the dynamics and instability of the region. In a new Analysis paper, Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow Rodger Shanahan argues that Australia's contemporary focus on the Pacific should not blind it to the fact that it has contin

Ben Scott talks to Maria Rost Rublee, an Associate Professor of Politics & International Relations at Monash University, and Alan Kuperman, an Associate Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, about Australia's plan to acquire nuclear powered submarines, and what that means for nuclear non-proliferation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu talks with Zhiqun Zhu to explore and assess some of China’s major foreign policy initiatives and priorities over the last five years. They discuss the driving forces behind these initiatives, including President Xi Jinping himself, and the major institutions that shape China’s foreign policy, namely the Chinese state, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people. Zhiqun Zhu is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bucknell University, USA. He is currently a US Fulbright Scholar at Griffith University, Australia. He is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including A Critical Decade: China’s Foreign Policy 2008­­­­–2018 (World Scientific, 2019). He is a member of the National Committee on United States–China Relations and is frequently quoted by international media on Chinese and East Asian affairs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Conversations, Susannah Patton talks to Greg Poling, Director of the Southeast Asia Program and Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) about his new book, On Dangerous Ground: America’s Century in the South China Sea. The United States has strong interests in the South China Sea, including maintaining the freedom of the seas and supporting its regional allies and partners, especially the Philippines. How can the United States protect these interests and prevent China from making further gains in the South China Sea? And how would the situation in the South China Sea be affected by a further escalation in US-China tensions over Taiwan?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Xi Jinping is one of the world’s most powerful leaders and will remain so for many more years if, as expected, he secures a third term as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the forthcoming 20th National Congress of the CCP. Despite being in power for close to a decade, he is also a man that remains a mystery to much of the world. Dr Joseph Torigian, one of the premier scholars of the Chinese leader and elite politics, discusses Xi’s early years and rise to power and what that reveals about the Chinese leader’s worldview and agenda. The event was moderated by Richard McGregor, the Lowy Institute's Senior Fellow for East Asia.Recorded on 26 July 2022See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Half of all Australians were born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas, and Australia is home to more than 250 ancestries and 350 languages. The new Labor government has invoked Australia’s multiculturalism as a part of our national identity in its recent engagement with the region. But what is the role of Australia’s multiculturalism in foreign policy? Are diversity and diasporas a source of soft power and engagement? Our panel examined how Australia’s multiculturalism can inform foreign policymaking chaired by Dr Jennifer Hsu, Research Fellow in the Lowy Institute’s Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program.Panel guests include:Dr Melissa Phillips is a Lecturer in Humanitarian and Development Studies in the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University. She has previously worked for the United Nations and international NGOs in South Sudan, North Africa, and the Middle East, and recently co-edited Understanding Diaspora Development: Lessons from Australia and the Pacific. Jason Chai is th

Lowy Institute researchers unpacked the findings of the 2022 Lowy Institute Poll in Canberra. How has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed Australian attitudes? What do the public think about China and the new Australian government? How are Australians responding to the contested nature of our region?The annual Lowy Institute Poll has tracked Australian attitudes to the world for 18 years and uncovered fascinating shifts in public opinion on Australia’s place in the world. Australians have diverse attitudes to a range of key foreign policy issues, including Australia’s alliance with the United States, immigration in the time of a pandemic, and the rise of authoritarianism.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There has been increasing concern that Russia and China are using state-owned media companies, social media campaigns and proxy actors to manipulate public discourse in the global south. In this episode, Sasha Fegan discusses the influence of disinformation in the media landscape in Africa. Her guests will talk about how Russia and China calibrate their messaging to different nation states, and how Chinese state-owned media in Africa is replicating and reinforcing Russian narratives around Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Idayat Hassan, is a lawyer, development expert and director of the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja, Nigeria. Dani Madrid-Morales, is a lecturer in the Department of Journalism Studies at The University of Sheffield. He is an expert on Africa-China mediated relations, particularly in Kenya and South Africa. His latest book is Disinformation in the Global South.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 21 July 2022, the Lowy Institute hosted the launch of 'The Consul', written by Nonresident Fellow Ian Kemish. The book was launched by Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon Tim Watts MP, with a conversation afterwards between Ian Kemish and Natasha Kassam, Director of the Institute's Public Opinion and Foreign Policy program.How have world events shaped the way we travel now and what does future travel look like? What should we expect of our government when we are overseas? Where does personal responsibility begin and end? Is Australia’s consular service adequately resourced?Since 2000, there has been extraordinary growth in the demands on the Australian consular service — the men and women who step forward to support their fellow Australians when they experience serious difficulty overseas. Australia’s consular officers are often on the frontline of major international crises — from natural disasters to terrorist attacks, evacuations from war zones, to a global pandemic.Ian Kemish AM served as Austra

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu speaks with Jessica Teets about policy experimentation and diffusion at the local level in China, and the consequences for civil society. Jennifer and Jessica discuss local-level policy innovations that have taken place in the past five years, and also where space for experimentation has shrunk. They talk about what the Communist Party’s upcoming National Congress might mean for understanding long-term trends in policymaking in China. Jessica Teets is a Professor at Middlebury College, and Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Political Science. Her research focuses on governance in authoritarian regimes, especially the role of civic participation. She is the author of Civil Society Under Authoritarianism: The China Model (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Jessica is currently co-authoring a new book manuscript on changing governance under Xi Jinping. She has a forthcoming co-edited volume developing a theory of how t