Pearls and Irritations editor-in-chief John Menadue talks to Pascal Lottez of Neutrality Studies about Western misconceptions of China and the narrative that has led to a very poor understanding of the biggest power in Asia.
Today I’m talking to John Menadue, one of Australia’s most prolific publishers and public figures. Born in 1935, John worked in Australian media, served as head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1974 to 1976 and was Australia’s Ambassador to Japan fon 1977-1980.
He was appointed Head of the Department of Trade in December 1983. And after returning to the private sector, he became the CEO of Qantas Airline from 1986-1989.
After several more positions in and out of Government, John founded influential public policy journal Pearls and Irritations at in January 2013 on which he and his colleagues have been reporting very critically on current affairs.
Republished from YouTube / Neutrality Studies, March 21, 2024
Pascal Lottaz
Dr. Pascal Lottaz is an Assistant Professor for Neutrality Studies at the Waseda Institute for Advanced Study, in Tokyo. He received his MA and PhD from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (Japan) and specializes on neutral actors in international relations, especially on neutrality during the two World Wars and during the Cold War. He recently published the books Sweden, Japan, and the Long Second World War (Routledge, 2022), Permanent Neutrality: A Model for Peace, Security, and Justice (Lexington Books, 2020), and Notions of Neutralities (Lexington Books, 2019). He leads the research network neutralitystudies.com.
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.