John Lee

Senior Fellow (non-resident)
United States Studies Centre

Dr John Lee is a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is also a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC.

From 2016-2018, he was senior adviser to Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. In this role, he served as the principal adviser on Asia and for economic, strategic and political affairs in the Indo-Pacific region.

Dr Lee was also appointed the Foreign Minister’s lead adviser on the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper, the first comprehensive foreign affairs blueprint for Australia since 2003 and written to guide Australia’s external engagement for the next ten years and beyond.

He has held an adjunct professorship at the Australian National University. He is one of the foremost experts on the Chinese political-economy and on strategic and economic affairs pertaining to the Indo-Pacific.

His articles have been published in leading policy and academic journals in the United States, Asia and Australia and his first book was entitled Will China Fail? – published 2007 and updated and published again in 2009.

His opinions have been published in over 50 major newspapers and current affairs magazines around the world, including in leading broadsheets in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania.

He received his Masters and Doctorate in International Relations from the University of Oxford and his Bachelor of Laws and Arts (1st Class – Philosophy) degrees from the University of New South Wales.

Dr Lee is based in Sydney, Australia.

From this author

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Partnering for refugee employment

When considering their talent pipelines, few companies think outside-of-the-box. Most refugees flourish in the workplace, and so do the businesses that hire them.

SDG 16
Institutional investors demand a more sustainable capitalism

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SDG15 Bushfires
Optimisation model as a guide to burning forests to save forests

Setting fire to parts of a forest to save it might seem counterintuitive to urban communities. There is no equivalent of torching a few streets to protect a suburb. However, amongst First Nations people in Australia, hazard reduction burning is a well-established practice.

SDG13 - coal mining
Net zero now – it’s the economy AND the planet

In Australia, as elsewhere, the climate wars have focused on the climate versus jobs dichotomy. Yet while Australia remains highly dependent on fossil fuel extraction for its national economic prosperity it has also become increasingly unequal in its distribution of that wealth.