The Center for Pacific and American Studies, University of Tokyo is pleased to welcome you to a lecture by Professor David Lowe on November 9.

Lecture "Australian relations with China and the United States: perspectives on the past and present from a contemporary historian"

Speaker: Professor David Lowe (Chair of Contemporary History， Deakin University/ Visiting Chair in Australian Studies， University of Tokyo， 2019-2020)

Date: November 9 (Saturday)， 2019， 15:00-17:00

Venue: Collaboration Room 1, Bldg. 18, Komaba I Campus, University of Tokyo
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/content/400020146.pdf

URL: http://www.cpas.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/indexjpn.html

Abstract:
It is clear that Australians expect to have to think harder about how they respond to the rise of China and changes in US-China relations. But the lines along which the re-thinking happens are less clear， and less agreed. One of the most fundamental requirements is a historically contextualised understanding of the strengths and limitations of the American alliance and relations with the United States more generally. In addition to providing significant benefits， I suggest that US-Australian relations have generated particular memories， misunderstandings， and narrowing of debates in Australian domestic politics in ways that have been less helpful. Similarly， the emergence of values and depictions of identity in recent Australian policy pronouncements touching on both China and the United States is perhaps logical but also somewhat untethered， and based on positioning and hedging more than offering a new framework in which to articulate Australian interests. This paper expands on these observations with reference to both historical and contemporary aspects of Australian foreign and security policies， and argues for renewed investment in Australian diplomacy aimed regionally as well as towards bilateral relationships.

Speaker's biography:
David Lowe is Visiting Chair in Australian Studies at the University of Tokyo， Chair of Contemporary History at Deakin University， and co-founder of the Australian Policy and History Network. His research focuses on modern international history， including Australia's role in the world， and the remembering of prominent events. Recent books include (with Carola Lentz) Remembering Independence， Routledge， 2018 and (edited， with Cassandra Atherton and Alyson Miller) The Unfinished Atomic Bomb， Rowman and Littlefield， 2018.

For more information, please contact: res@cpas.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp