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Peter Drysdale: ‘A Radical Idea’ Personal Reflections on the Australia-Japan Relationship

In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Peter Drysdale AO, architect of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, about his personal reflections on how the Australia-Japan relationship has developed over the years.

One of the most remarkable foreign policy achievements of the Menzies Government was overcoming lingering resentments to build a close and mutually beneficial relationship with Australia’s former adversary Japan. While Menzies navigated significant political opposition to achieve this end, the accomplishment was equally the product of foresighted public servant John Crawford, who had the ‘radical idea’ of developing close ties as early as the 1930s. In this week’s episode we talk to Crawford’s colleague Peter Drysdale, who has experienced the full gamut of the Australia-Japan journey, from having had a close relative endure a POW camp, studying and researching in Japan in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and playing a central role in the evolution of the relationship up until the present day. This is first-hand history from a remarkable ‘primary source’.

Peter Drysdale AO is Emeritus Professor of Economics and the Head of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research and East Asia Forum at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. He is widely recognised as the leading intellectual architect of APEC. He is the author of a number of books and papers on international trade and economic policy in East Asia and the Pacific, including his prize-winning book, International Economic Pluralism: Economic Policy in East Asia and the Pacific. He is recipient of the Asia Pacific Prize, the Weary Dunlop Award, the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon, the Australian Centenary Medal and he is a member of the Order of Australia.