Programs & Projects

The North Asia Program

The China and East Asia Program

The China and East Asia Program conducts research on the politics and foreign policy of China and its immediate neighbours in Northeast Asia: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and the Korean peninsula. The program is renowned for its particular focus on China’s domestic politics and how this helps to shape its external behaviour. From 2020, the Institute’s extensive research on Southeast Asia – including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and Myanmar – is now incorporated in a dedicated Southeast Asia Program. Each Program also commissions work by other scholars on the broader region. To complement their written research, Lowy Institute experts hold a robust series of dialogues and events on the politics of the region, independently and in partnership with other organisations.

Photo: Jung Yeon-Je-Pool/Getty Images

Experts
Latest publications
News and media
China expanding role in Africa and implications for the EU
Analyses
China expanding role in Africa and implications for the EU
East Asia Program Director Linda Jakobson examines China's expanding role in Africa and the implications for China-EU relations in 'Europe and China: Strategic Partners or Rivals?…
A key domino? Indonesia death penalty politics
Analyses
A key domino? Indonesia death penalty politics
The application of the death penalty by Australia's Southeast Asian neighbours recurrently strains bilateral relations.  Lowy Institute Research Fellow Dr Dave McRae examines…
Living with the dragon: why Australia needs a China strategy
Policy Briefs
Living with the dragon: why Australia needs a China strategy
In this Policy Brief, Lowy Institute Non-resident Senior Fellow, Professor Alan Dupont argues that Australia has failed to grasp the full implications of China’s meteoric rise or…
The quiet achiever: Australia-Japan security relations
Analyses
The quiet achiever: Australia-Japan security relations
In the last decade, Australia has quietly and quickly become a close security partner to Japan, second only to the United States. For Australia, no security relationship outside…
Confronting ghosts: Thailand’s shapeless southern insurgency
Lowy Institute Papers
Confronting ghosts: Thailand’s shapeless southern insurgency
In this Lowy Institute Paper, Joseph Chinyong Liow and Don Pathan examine the ongoing violence in the majority Muslim Malay provinces of Thailand’s south.Don Pathan , Joseph…
The Mekong: Milton Osborne presentation
Analyses
The Mekong: Milton Osborne presentation
The Mekong River basins are one of the most important and dynamic areas in the world for the battle between economic development’s demands for energy and environmental and social…
The Mekong: River under threat
Lowy Institute Papers
The Mekong: River under threat
Dr Milton Osborne evaluates the potentially huge social and environmental risks for the Mekong River and the millions who depend on it for their livelihood of planned dam projects…
China and the global environment: Learning from the past, anticipating the future
Lowy Institute Papers
China and the global environment: Learning from the past, anticipating the future
Dr Katherine Morton examines the potential for China's system of environmental governance to respond effectively to the crises, both within and beyond territorial boundaries. …
The sting of climate change
Policy Briefs
The sting of climate change
Climate change is not only affecting where people live and prosper but also where mosquitoes do. This is bad news for northern Australia and Australia's northern neighbours. In a…
Beijing's Olympic challenge
Analyses
Beijing's Olympic challenge
With the troubled Olympic Torch coming to Canberra next week, the Beijing Olympics and what it means for China will be centre stage in Australia. John Bowan