Chinese philosophy has a long history stretching back more than two thousand years and covers schools of thought such as Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, and Buddhism. It has had a deep influence on the cultural and political development of the nation and people of China.

Guest:

Professor John Makeham (Director of the China Studies Research Centre, La Trobe University).

China's economy has long been a story of success and growth, and being the second largest in the world has given it a position of power in the global economy.

But could there be signs of an economic slowdown ahead of China? What steps would they have to take to safely navigate it?

Guest:

Professor Michael Pettis (Finance, Peking University).

India’s fast-growing population, and aspirations to join the throwaway prosperity of the developed world, generate vast quantities of waste, sewage and pollution. In attempting to mitigate these problems, India displays strengths and weaknesses, and the Clean India campaign has found successful techniques as well as discovering strategies that do not work. Some of India’s experiments hold lessons for Australia.

The panel examines the Indian experience of waste removal, public sanitation, recycling and local-government dilemmas with special reference to India’s economic and population growth and to the role caste plays in the contest to control waste.

SPEAKERS

Assa Doron is Associate Professor in Anthropology at the College of Asia & the Pacific, Australian National University (ANU).

Robin Jeffrey is an Emeritus Professor of Politics at La Trobe University and the ANU and chairs an advisory panel for the Australia-India Institute.

Dolly Kikon, a lawyer from northeastern India, has a doctorate from Stanford University and is a lecturer at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

CHAIR

Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer.

Melbourne book launch of Waste of a Nation: Garbage and Growth in India by Assa Doron and Robin Jeffrey (Harvard University Press).

This event is a collaboration between La Trobe Asia and the Australian India Institute (AII). It was held at the Wheeler Centre in Melbourne on 31st May, 2018.

Asia’s elderly population is on track to reach a billion by 2050, and there are few governments prepared to meet this change, which will have wide social and economic consequences.

Guest:

Professor Thomas Klassen (Political Science at York University in Ontario, Canada).

The future of the Indo-Pacific region is being buffeted by an array of complex forces including the return of great power rivalry, rising illiberalism, and growing nationalism.

SPEAKERS:

The Hon Julie Bishop MP (Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party)

Professor Nick Bisley (Head, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University)

Tony Walker (Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University)

Dr Rebecca Strating (Lecturer in International Relations, Department of Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University)

In partnership with La Trobe University’s Ideas and Society Program.

Recorded at Grand Hyatt Melbourne on 1th April 2018.

Any visitor to China will be acutely aware of the amount of security, and nowhere is this more visible than the nation’s capital, Beijing. Guards are frequent, Cameras are plentiful, and the electronic data mining is extensive.

GUEST:

Bill Birtles (China Correspondent, Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Theme music: Asian Wonders by Butterfly Tea

The Chinese education system has had its criticisms, but many argue that it delivers, at least in the larger cities such as Shanghai and Hong Kong. Students are pushed to study, with many students attending after-school tutoring, and qualities such as respect and dedication are held to a higher standard than that of western education systems.

GUEST:

Lenora Chu (American journalist, author of Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve’)

Theme music: Asian Wonders by Butterfly Tea

Indonesia is a sprawling nation of islands across south-east Asia, and two environmental concerns are significant – deforestation and rising sea levels. The deforestation rate is one of the highest in the world, and rising sea levels threaten much of their territory, including the capital, Jakarta.

GUEST:

Dr Dirk Tomsa (Senior Lecturer, Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University).

China operates on a scale that outclasses every other country, and are taking climate change seriously. As the world’s biggest polluter many would say that this is the way it should be.

But does this give China an advantage and a global platform in green leadership? And are they making the most of it?

GUEST:

Dr Benjamin Habib (Lecturer, Politics and International Relations, La Trobe University).

North Korea is a country that can little afford a close examination of ecological impact. The environment exists and is protected as long as it is useful as a resource to the authoritative state.

Despite this it holds an important place in the mythology of the country, and retaining elements of it is useful, as long as they can be exploited.

GUEST:

Dr Robert Winstanley-Chesters (Research Fellow, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University)