Asia Society Australia will host our Deciphering China workshop in Sydney on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

Accessing information within the PRC has never been easy for businesses, journalists, and scholars. But over the past decade, and particularly in the Xi Jinping era, China has imposed increasingly onerous strictures on the ability of outsiders to learn about the country.

Yet, given China's continuing impact on world affairs and Australia's future, it is more important than ever that we stay informed about the country, intelligently interpret accessible information, and ensure a younger cohort of budding specialists can develop deeper expertise as the next generation of China watchers.

Supported by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, this Asia Society Australia workshop will explore the practical ways that established China experts and prospective specialists can sustain and deepen their knowledge.

The workshop will aim to share perspectives and approaches across academia/think tanks; journalism; and business, and ask:

• What are the principal barriers to understanding developments in China today and how do they affect our insights on the country?
• What approaches are available to sustain and gain currency on developments in China? 
• What can be done to help build the next generation of China expertise?

This intimate workshop is by invitation only and is designed for China practitioners to share their experiences and insights. It will be held under the Chatham House Rule.

Date: Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Time: 9:00am to 5:00pm

Location: Sydney, CBD. 

This event is by invitation only. Please contact [email protected] with any enquiries.

This event is supported by the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.

Speakers

David Rennie, Geopolitics Editor and Columnist, The Economist

David Rennie joined The Economist in 2007 as European Union correspondent and Charlemagne columnist, based in Brussels. From July 2010 to July 2012 he was British political editor and author of the Bagehot column, based in London. In the summer of 2012 he moved to Washington DC. He was Lexington columnist 2012-17, and Washington bureau chief 2013-2018. In May 2018 he moved to China as Beijing bureau chief and launched the Chaguan column on China in September 2018. He is the co-host, with Alice Su, of the Drum Tower podcast, launched in late 2022.

Bates Gill, Non-Resident Senior Policy Fellow, Asia Society Australia

Dr. Bates Gill is Senior Policy Fellow with the Asia Society Australia and Senior Fellow in Asian Security with the National Bureau of Asian Research.  He has a 35-year international career as a researcher, policy advisor, and institution builder, focusing on China's politics and foreign policy.  His most recent book is Daring to Struggle: China's Global Ambitions under Xi Jinping (Oxford University Press).

Susan Jakes, Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director, ChinaFile, and Senior Fellow, Center for China Analysis, Asia Society 

Susan Jakes is Senior Fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis and the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of ChinaFile, the online platform for original reporting and analysis on China whose editorial operations she has led since its launch in 2013. From 2000-2007, she reported on China for Time magazine, first as a reporter and editor based in Hong Kong and then as the magazine’s Beijing Correspondent.

Jude Blanchette, Distinguished Tang Chair in China Research and Director of the China Research Centre, RAND Corporation

Jude Blanchette is the Distinguished Tang Chair in China Research and Director of the China Research Centre at the RAND Corporation. He was previously the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to that, he was engagement director at the Conference Board’s China Centre for Economics and Business in Beijing, where he researched China’s political environment with a focus on the workings of the Communist Party of China and its impact on foreign companies and investors.  

Dr Courtney J. Fung, Associate Professor in the Department of Security Studies & Criminology, Macquarie University.

Dr. Fung is concurrently Non-Resident Fellow at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University; at Asia Society Australia, and at the Lowy Institute. She is also part of the Graduate Research and Development Network on Asian Security (GRADNAS) initiative. She was a Fulbright scholar at Georgetown University for spring 2024 through the DFAT-funded Professional Scholarship in Australian-American Alliance Studies.

Hans Hendrischke, Professor of Chinese Business and Management, University of Sydney Business School

Hans began his research on China at the Contemporary China Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Fluent in Chinese, he served in a diplomatic post in Beijing from 1979. As a member of the Executive Committee of the University of Sydney China Studies Centre, he oversees corporate engagement. A frequent commentator on China business and Australia-China economic relations, Hans has co-led the annual KPMG reports Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia since 2011. 

Amy King, Associate Professor, Australian National University

Amy is the author of China-Japan Relations after World War Two: Empire, Industry and War, 1949-1971 (Cambridge University Press, 2016). The holder of an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship and a Westpac Research Fellowship, Amy leads a team researching China’s role in shaping the international economic order. Amy has undertaken intensive language study and fieldwork in China, Japan and Taiwan over the past 15 years, and engages regularly with the Australian policy community on issues of contemporary foreign and security policy.

Edwina Kwan, General Counsel, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility

Edwina Kwan is an international arbitration lawyer with particular expertise in China cross-border and regional Asian disputes. Edwina is a Co-founder of the China Young Arbitration Group in Beijing, a former China representative for the Australasian Forum for International Arbitration, a guest lecturer for the Masters of Law program in International Arbitration and Dispute Settlement at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and an Australia China Youth Dialogue alum. Edwina was previously a Partner at King & Wood Mallesons where she regularly advised Chinese private and State-Owned entities in relation to commercial disputes across a range of sectors including renewable energy, projects, construction, banking & finance, mining, private equity and commercial sales contracts. 

Richard Yetsenga, Group Chief Economist, ANZ

Richard Yetsenga is Group Chief Economist and Head of Research at ANZ, based in Sydney. He leads the Bank's global research team, which focuses on Australia, New Zealand and Asia. Richard joined ANZ in 2011 from HSBC in Hong Kong, where he was Managing Director of Emerging Market Strategy. Richard is an editorial contributor to the Financial Times, Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Wall Street Journal, Japan's Nikkei, the Hong Kong Economic Journal and Singapore’s The Business Times. 

Peter Cai, Advisor

Peter Cai is an experienced executive with broad public and private sector experience, including senior roles in federal government and ASX-listed companies. He was the CEO of National Foundation of Australia China Relations and Group Chief Advisor at Virgin Australia. He is a non-resident Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International policy. Previously he was a journalist with The Australian, The Age and Sydney Morning Herald, covering business and economic news.

Echo Hui, Reporter and Research, ABC Investigations

Echo Hui is a reporter and researcher with ABC Investigations. She reports on political and social issues, with a focus on government and financial misconduct, cover-ups, abuses of power, and covert influence. Previously based in Beijing, Yangon, Hong Kong and Ching Mai, she has won multiple awards for her stories on the Australian casino industry, Xinjiang re-education camps, Hong Kong's civil disobedience, China's labour movement, and Burma's democratic reforms.

Primrose Riordan, Associate Editor, the Australian Financial Review

Primrose Riordan is an Associate Editor at the Australian Financial Review and works from the Sydney newsroom. Primrose was previously the South China Correspondent at the Financial Times based in Hong Kong. Before then she covered foreign affairs and politics in Canberra for the Financial Review and The Australian. She has lived in mainland China three times and grew up in Singapore. Primrose has won multiple awards for her journalism including from The National Press Club, SABEW in the US and Press Gazette in the UK. She has been twice nominated for a Walkley Award.

Will Glasgow, North Asia correspondent, The Australian

Will Glasgow is the North Asia correspondent at The Australian. His return to Beijing in August 2024 ended a four-year absence of Australian media in China. In 2021, he moved The Australian’s North Asia bureau to Taipei, becoming the first Australian media to be based in Taiwan since the 1990s. His first posting to Beijing began in January 2020 and ended after Australian CGTN anchor Cheng Lei was detained. Will covers China’s international relations, politics and economy. He has a particular focus on Australia’s relations with China.

Anthony Bubalo, CEO, Asia Society Australia

Anthony Bubalo joined Asia Society Australia in July 2023 as its Chief Executive Officer. He has over a decade of experience as a senior executive leading research, not-for-profit and consulting organisations. He has also worked as an Australian diplomat, intelligence analyst, speechwriter, and think tank researcher. Prior to joining Asia Society, Anthony was the Chief Operating Officer of the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas. In 2004 he joined the Lowy Institute and between 2012 and 2018 he was the Lowy Institute’s Research Director and Deputy Director. Between 1991 and 2003, Anthony worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He served as an Australian diplomat in Saudi Arabia and Israel. 

James Scullin, Director, Programs, Asia Society Australia

James Scullin joined Asia Society Australia in June 2021. He has worked in Australia and Asia, developing programs for nonprofits in the areas of China's political economy, foreign policy, climate change and Asian Australian business engagement. He is responsible for the Asia Society Australia’s major public programs and led the organisation’s China Executive Briefing series. Previously, James was National Project Manager for the Australia China Business Council, where he led high-level China policy briefings, market entry delegations to China and an Australia-China business podcast.