Jack Butcher

I am a PhD Candidate and Teaching Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Adelaide. I have been supervised by Professor Joanne Wallis and Associate Professor Tim Legrand. My research thesis, Pactomania 2.0: Analysing the growth of strategic partnerships in East Asia in the post-Cold War era, examines the strategic partnership diplomacy of the US, China, Japan, ASEAN, and Australia from 2006 to 2023.

My main area of expertise is the international relations of East Asia and the Western Pacific. I am interested in the foreign and defence policies of China, Japan, South and North Korea, interactions between these states, and their relations with the US, Australia, and ASEAN member states.

I have authored and co-edited various journal articles, books, and policy commentary pieces. I have recent publications in the Australian Journal of International Affairs, with Palgrave Macmillan, and the Australian Journal of Politics and History. I have also contributed analyses to the Lowy Institute and Young Australians in International Affairs. I was recently quoted in news commentary on China-Vietnam relations with Japanese media outlet Nikkei Asia.

I was also appointed as one of the inaugural Japan-Australia Dialogue and Exchange (JADE) fellows by the Japan Foundation and the United States Studies Centre in Sydney from 2024-2025. I was also the Indo-Pacific Fellow at Young Australians in International Affairs and recognised by the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) as an emerging expert on Korea.

Before beginning my PhD, I lived, worked and studied in China for several years, mainly employed in media, translation and teaching. I graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Master of International Security and a Bachelor of International Studies with minors in Asian and Chinese studies. During my undergraduate years, I received scholarships from Westpac Group, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Hanban to study at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Sichuan University in Chengdu.

I speak English, Chinese and Japanese, which I actively use in my research. I also have limited working proficiency in Korean and Spanish.