Dr Geoff Raby AO in Conversation - Great Game On: The Contest for Central Asia & Global Supremacy

Drinks with Dr Geoff Raby AO

Hosted by Dr Marianne Broadbent

How should we understand China’s current positioning amidst Eurasian power shifts and the remaking of the world order? Historically, China has sought its security by building dominant relationships with pliant states that accept its pre-eminence. Its expanding role and influence in Central Asia has been as incremental and piecemeal as it has been deliberate.

With its economic rise and the current focus on wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, China now has the chance to project its power globally, as the US did from the early twentieth century when it became the dominant power in the western hemisphere.

What are the forces shaping the geopolitics of Eurasia? And what happens when China becomes the established, stable, dominant power in Eurasia? China could potentially end the United States’ international primacy to become the most consequential global power.

We are privileged to have Dr Geoff Raby AO as our discussion leader for this exploration of pivotal global issues. 

Geoff was Australia’s Ambassador to China from 2007-11, during which he visited all provinces in China officially. He served in Beijing as First Secretary (Economic) and then Counsellor (Economic), 1986-91. He was Ambassador to the WTO in Geneva, Ambassador to APEC, and Deputy Secretary, 2003-07. He was also head of the Trade Policy Issues Division of the OECD, Paris, 1993-95. He is a non-executive independent director of ASX listed-companies Yancoal, where he chairs the Health, Safety, Environment and Community Committee, and sits on the Board of the Gavan Foundation.

His most recent book, Great Game On: The Contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy, was published by Melbourne University Press on 12 November 2024. His previous book was China’s Grand Strategy and Australia’s Future in the World Order (MUP Nov 2020). He regularly contributes op-eds and travel writing to the Australian Financial Review. Geoff holds a PhD in economics. He was awarded the Order of Australia (AO) in June 2019 for services to Australia-China bilateral relations and to multilateral trade.

Please join us for this exclusive event.