Ben Bland

Ben Bland is a foreign correspondent and policy analyst who has been working in Asia for more than a decade. Currently director of the Lowy Institute's Southeast Asia Project, he was previously the South China correspondent with the Financial Times.

He has reported on the intensifying pressures on Hong Kong's unique but fragile political system, as Xi Jinping's Chinese government has exerted ever greater control over the semi-autonomous city.

An award-winning foreign correspondent, Ben has worked in Asia for a decade and was formerly based in Jakarta, Hanoi and Singapore. He has a masters in Southeast Asian Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies and a bachelors degree in history from the University of Cambridge.

His first book – Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China's Shadow – was published by Penguin in 2017 to widespread praise.

His latest work, also highly praised, Man of Contradictions: Jokowi Widodo and the struggle to remake Indonesia was published by Penguin in 2020.