Our panel event to mark the release of the 2021 Asia Power Index. Launched by the Lowy Institute in 2018, this annual project measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia. The 2021 edition, which covers four years of data, is the most comprehensive assessment so far of the changing distribution of power in the Indo-Pacific region. The principal researchers behind the project, Hervé Lemahieu and Alyssa Leng, was joined by Roland Rajah, the Lowy Institute’s Lead Economist, to discuss the Index’s key findings:

Why the United States has registered the most substantial — albeit still modest — upswing in power of any country in the region.

What China’s losses across half of the Index’s measures of power in 2021 will mean for its trajectory to 2030 and beyond.

How the region is becoming more bipolar and less multipolar, and the difficulties this poses for Southeast Asian middle powers in particular.

Hervé Lemahieu is the Director of Research at the Lowy Institute, where he is responsible for the Institute’s team of experts and oversees its research output. Hervé leads the research for the annual Asia Power Index and authored the methodology to map the changing distribution of power in the region.

Alyssa Leng is a Research Fellow and Economist in the Power and Diplomacy Program and one of the principal researchers behind the Asia Power Index. Prior to joining the Institute, Alyssa worked on Australia’s economic policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic at the Australian Treasury.

Roland Rajah is Lead Economist and Director of the International Economics Program at the Lowy Institute. Before joining the Institute, Roland was a Senior Economist and Country Manager at the Asian Development Bank.

The event was chaired by Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program.