The Lowy Institute

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow, Jennifer Hsu talks with Sophie McNeill, Australia researcher for Human Rights Watch and formerly an investigative reporter with ABC TV’s Four Corners program. They discuss how the Chinese government, despite being thousands of kilometres from Australia, has sought to influence and censor Chinese international students studying at Australian universities, especially those who express support for democratic movements.Sophie McNeill is the Australia researcher for Human Rights Watch. She was formerly an investigative reporter with ABC TV’s Four Corners program. She is the winner of three Walkley Awards. In 2020, she was the co-winner of the Lowy Institute’s Media Award for the ABC Four Corners episodes ‘Rebellion’ and ‘Tell the World’, about Hong Kong’s fight for democracy and China’s treatment of its Uyghur population.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the well-known American strategist and author, Dr Kori Schake. Kori began her career at the Pentagon before serving on the National Security Council and the State Department under President George W. Bush. She also served as the senior foreign policy adviser on Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Kori is currently a Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defence Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Kori and Michael talk about John McCain, the Iraq War, the West’s response to President Trump and US policy towards China. Kori talks about the influence Condoleezza Rice had on her during her studies at Stanford, reflects on her time in the Bush administration, and discusses the challenges of being a Republican in a Trumpified Washington.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with Saad Mohseni, CEO and chairman of Afghanistan’s largest media company, Moby Group. Saad talks about growing up as the son of a diplomat, moving to Melbourne after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and founding Moby Group in 2002. Michael and Saad talk about the future of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US forces, as well as Australia’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with Professor Philip Bobbitt, one of America’s leading experts on constitutional law and national security, and the nephew of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Philip has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations and is the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence at Columbia University Law School. Philip reflects on the presidents he has worked with, the US response to the coronavirus pandemic, the future of US-China competition, and how history will judge his uncle Lyndon.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Natasha Kassam talks with Michelle Grattan, Chief Political Correspondent at the Conversation, and Katharine Murphy, Political Editor of Guardian Australia. They discuss how Australian foreign policy has played a changing role in Australian politics, how Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved from ‘negative globalism’ to being a multilateralist, Australia’s response to COVID-19 and ‘Fortress Australia’, and the fraught politics of climate change. Michelle Grattan is one of Australia’s most respected political journalists, who has been a member of the Canberra parliamentary press gallery for more than four decades. She has written for all the major Australian newspapers, including as editor of The Canberra Times. Michelle is currently Chief Political Correspondent at The Conversation and has an academic appointment at the University of Canberra. Katharine Murphy has been Guardian Australia's Political Editor since

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the former US Deputy National Security Adviser, Matthew Pottinger. Matt started out as a journalist based in China, served in the US Marine Corps, and joined the Trump administration first as the Asia senior director at the National Security Council and later as Deputy National Security Advisor. Michael and Matt speak about President Trump’s approach to foreign policy, the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the future of both US and Australian relations with China. Matt explains what originally interested him in China, speaks about his time in the Marine Corps, and reveals why he resigned from the White House after the Capitol siege of 6 January.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the former US Deputy National Security Adviser, Matthew Pottinger. Matt started out as a journalist based in China, served in the US Marine Corps, and joined the Trump administration first as the Asia senior director at the National Security Council and later as Deputy National Security Advisor.Michael and Matt speak about President Trump’s approach to foreign policy, the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the future of both US and Australian relations with China. Matt explains what originally interested him in China, speaks about his time in the Marine Corps, and reveals why he resigned from the White House after the Capitol siege of 6 January.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China’s ruling communist party celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding on 1 July 2021. Not only is it the world’s largest political party, with over 90 million members, it is also the richest, presiding over an economy en route to surpass that of the US.Richard McGregor, Lowy Institute senior fellow, hosted a discussion with three leading China specialists about the anniversary and what it means for Australia and the world.Chris Buckley is an award winning New York Times China correspondent.Melinda Liu has spent more than a quarter century living and working as a foreign correspondent in Beijing; she is Newsweek's Beijing Bureau Chief.Steve Tsang is director of the China Institute at SOAS university in London.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Papua New Guinea has been contending with a Covid-19 outbreak that has put its fragile health system under intense pressure. Case numbers have in recent weeks stabilised but there are concerns that vaccine hesitancy and limited resources are leaving the country facing the threat of a third wave of cases.Since early 2020, Police Commissioner David Manning has been at the forefront of the Papua New Guinea’s pandemic response. First as the Emergency Controller and since the middle of last year as the designated Pandemic Controller, he has been at the centre of responses from public health orders, travel requirements and quarantine through to coordinating testing and tracing efforts.In Conversation event with PNG Police Commissioner and Pandemic Controller David Manning, hosted by the Australia-Papua New Guinea Network’s Shane McLeod.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Lydia Khalil talks with Stan Grant about the erosion of democracy, the impact of globalisation, and the role of liberal values in the modern world.Conversations is a Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation with one of the foremost chroniclers of American life. Author Lawrence Wright discussed his new book, The Plague Year, which tells the story of Covid-19 on a global and an intimate scale, illuminating the medical, economic, political and social ramifications of the pandemic. Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove interviewed Wright about his writing and journalism career, and the state of US politics.Recorded on 22 June 2021.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation with Ted Hui, the pro-democracy politician who made the tough call to abandon Hong Kong and seek refuge in Australia. How did the crackdown on the city’s democratic freedoms affect him and his family? What happens to Hong Kong now? How will he fight for his city’s freedoms from his home in Adelaide?Ben Bland, Director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Program and author of Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China’s Shadow, moderated this conversation with Ted Hui. Ted Hui is a Hong Kong politician in exile. He served in the Hong Kong Legislature for four years and the District Council for ten years before fleeing to Australia in 2021. Hui is an advocate for Hong Kong’s freedom, initiated the 2021 Hong Kong Charter, and has been placed on a wanted list in Hong Kong for allegedly breaching the National Security Law.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A conversation about Australia’s climate change debate. How did we get here? What does the public think? And how will Australia be placed in the lead-up to COP26 in Glasgow?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Herve Lemahieu, the Director of the Institute’s Power and Diplomacy Program, talks with Lord Adair Turner, former Chairman of the UK Committee on Climate Change and chair of the Energy Transmissions Commission, on the global climate agenda leading up to the November 2021 Glasgow climate summit.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lowy Institute conversation with one of the world’s most respected economists, Professor Raghuram Rajan. In 2005, Professor Rajan presciently warned of the risks to financial stability that lay ahead. What are those risks today? What should we make of the dramatic shift in favour of fiscal activism in advanced economies? Is Big Tech helping or hindering innovation? What is the place of social institutions in the economy? And how can India emerge from its Covid-19 crisis?Raghuram Rajan is the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School. He was the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2013 to 2016. From 2003 to 2006, he was chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. He is the author of several best-selling books, including Fault lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy and The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Hold the Community Behind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Ben Bland, the Director of the Institute’s Southeast Asia Program, sits down with author Elizabeth Becker to talk about the pioneering – but often overlooked – contributions of women war correspondents in Vietnam and beyond. Elizabeth Becker is a veteran foreign correspondent who has worked for the Washington Post, the New York Times and National Public Radio, reporting from Asia, Africa, South America and Europe. After covering the war in Cambodia in the 1970s, she wrote an award-winning history of the rise of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Elizabeth’s new book, You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War, explores how three intrepid journalists – Frances FitzGerald, Catherine Leroy and Kate Webb – changed the way the Vietnam War was seen and understood.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the Brookings Institution scholar and Merkel-watcher Dr Constanze Stelzenmüller. Constanze holds the Fritz Stern Chair at Brookings. Michael and Constanze talk about the chancellorship of Angela Merkel, her legacy, and look to the future of German politics. Constanze reflects on the state of transatlantic relations, Germany’s relationship with China, and considers whether Merkel will go down as one of ‘the great chancellors’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Lowy Institute's headquarters at 31 Bligh Street, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull launched a new book, 'Red Zone: China’s Challenge and Australia’s Future' by Nonresident Fellow Peter Hartcher.Hartcher’s new book explores China’s intentions in relation to Australia, and what lies behind the recent chill between the two countries. The launch event included remarks by Turnbull and Hartcher as well as a Q&A hosted by Research Director Alex Oliver.This event was recorded on 31 May 2021.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Richard McGregor, Lowy Institute Senior Fellow, sits down with Linda Jaivin to discuss her new book, The Shortest History of China. Linda Jaivin is a journalist, writer and translator who has been studying Chinese politics, language and culture for more than 40 years. She is based in Sydney.Conversations is a Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with Admiral Harry Harris, the former US commander and diplomat. Harry served as the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and as President Trump’s Ambassador to South Korea. Harry discusses his military career, which took in postings from Guantanamo Bay to INDOPACOM headquarters in Honolulu, when he led nearly 400,000 military personnel. They also discuss his time as a diplomat, when he grappled with issues including Black Lives Matter and President Trump’s attempts to cut a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Harry recounts his ‘Sliding Doors’ moment, when he was meant to serve as Ambassador to Australia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.