Launch of the 2024 Asia Power Index: Will China gain uncontested primacy in Asia?

Lowy Institute

On 10 October 2024 we launched the 2024 Asia Power Index, the Lowy Institute’s annual assessment of the distribution of power among 27 countries in Asia.

In Asia, a battle of narratives rages. Many believe China is already an unassailably dominant force, while US primacists see it as weak, vulnerable and ultimately containable. Still others, including US allies such as Australia and Japan, tout the emergence of a multipolar Indo-Pacific that could arrest China’s ambitions for regional hegemony.

What do the findings of the Asia Power Index say about these prevailing narratives? And what role can third countries play in Asia’s power politics and in its regional order?

Professor Hugh White AO is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University.

Susannah Patton is Director of the Southeast Asia Program and Project Lead for the Asia Power Index at the Lowy Institute.
Hervé Lemahieu is Director of Research at the Lowy Institute.

Chaired by Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute.

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