Lowy in Port Moresby: China under Xi Jinping

Richard McGregor will discuss how the Chinese political system works and how it has been remoulded under Xi Jinping, as he pushes tighter political controls in China, and a more assertive foreign policy abroad. In particular, he will describe in detail the inner workings and power dynamics of the communist party.

Richard McGregor is Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute, Sydney. Richard is an award-winning journalist and author with unrivalled experience reporting on the top-level politics and economies of east Asia, primarily China and Japan. He was the Financial Times bureau chief in Beijing and Shanghai between 2000 and 2009, and headed the Washington office for four years from 2011. Prior to joining the FT, he was the chief political correspondent and China and Japan correspondent for The Australian. His book The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers has won numerous awards, including the Asia Society in New York award in 2011 for best book on Asia. His latest book, Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan, and the Fate of US Power in the Pacific Century, was described as “shrewd and knowing” by The Wall Street Journal, and a “compelling and impressive” read by The Economist. He was a fellow at the Wilson Center in 2015 and a visiting scholar at the Sigur Center at George Washington University in 2016. He has lectured widely in the United States and elsewhere on Chinese politics and Asia. His latest Lowy Institute Paper, Xi Jinping: The Backlash, was released by Penguin in July 2019.