Ben Bland

Director, Southeast Asia Program
Areas of expertise

Southeast Asian politics and foreign policy; South China Sea; regional economic trends; China-ASEAN relations; Indonesia; Malaysia; Vietnam; Hong Kong

Ben Bland
Biography
Publications
News and media

Ben Bland is the director of the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House. His research focuses on the nexus of politics, economics and international relations in Southeast Asia, as well as China’s growing role in the broader region and the contours of US-China strategic competition.

He was previously Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute.

Ben is the author of Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia (Penguin Random House, 2020), the first English language political biography of Indonesia’s president, and Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China’s Shadow (Penguin Random House, 2017).

At the Lowy Institute, he also wrote analysis papers examining the state of Indonesian democracy and the potential for the Australia-India-Indonesia trilateral relationship, among other research projects.

Ben regularly writes opinion pieces for and provides expert comment to a wide range of international media organisations, including Bloomberg, Foreign Policy, the New York TimesNikkei Asia and Reuters.

Before joining the Lowy Institute, Ben was an award-winning foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, with postings in Jakarta, Hanoi and Hong Kong and experience reporting across China and Southeast Asia over the previous decade. He has an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and an undergraduate degree in History from the University of Cambridge.

Ben’s position was supported by the Lowy Institute’s Engaging Asia Project, which was established with the financial support of the Australian government.

Beijing crackdown will squeeze business
Commentary
Beijing crackdown will squeeze business
Investors will make a grave mistake by ignoring how much China's new national security law will change Hong Kong. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
Emerging From COVID: Policy Responses To The Pandemic
Interactives
Emerging From COVID: Policy Responses To The Pandemic
In this new feature, Lowy Institute experts provide policy recommendations for Australia to address issues that are critical to our nation’s — and the world’s —…
Emerging from COVID: Policy Responses to the Pandemic
Policy Briefs
Emerging from COVID: Policy Responses to the Pandemic
Lowy Institute experts provide policy recommendations for Australia to address issues that are critical to our nation's — and the world's — successful emergence from the pandemic.
Investors will lose as Beijing squeezes Hong Kong
Commentary
Investors will lose as Beijing squeezes Hong Kong
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
Why Beijing feels compelled to destroy Hong Kong’s freedom
Commentary
Why Beijing feels compelled to destroy Hong Kong’s freedom
Originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald. 
Hong Kong's new 'Basic Law' is that whatever China says, goes
Commentary
Hong Kong's new 'Basic Law' is that whatever China says, goes
Judges alone cannot protect territory from Beijing's heavy-handed interventions. Originally published in Nikkei Asian Review.
New crackdown will deepen dividing lines in Hong Kong
New crackdown will deepen dividing lines in Hong Kong
Both the Chinese Communist Party and the Hong Kong democracy movement are settling in for a long and painful struggle.
The World After COVID
Analyses
The World After COVID
How will the COVID-19 pandemic change the world? Lowy Institute experts provide their analysis.
COVIDcast Episode 6: Geopolitics and the pandemic
COVIDcast Episode 6: Geopolitics and the pandemic
The latest episode in a podcast to discuss the implications of coronavirus for Australia, the region, and the world.
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