PUBLIC LECTURE: �China: The Sleeping Giant Stirs�

By 1991, while the sanctions applied by western governments following Tiananmen Square had been largely relaxed, foreign business in China remained fairly static. Then in early 1992 Deng Xiaoping undertook his journey to Southern China and the socialist market economy was born. Economic growth took off and with it a second wave of Australian business involvement in China – an involvement that continues unabated today.

This, the fifth in the “On China – The Ambassadors’ Lecture Series”, looks at those critical years 1991 to 1995 when China committed itself to the rough-and-tumble of market forces and set in train the events which have made it the fastest growing major economy of the past decade; as well as at Australian businesses’ responses then to those events.

Michael Lightowler was born in Perth in 1937 and educated at Subiaco State School and Wesley College. He has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) majoring in Economics from The University of Western Australia.

From 1961 to 1996 Mr Lightowler was a career public servant with the Australian Government. During this period he worked with the Department of Trade, the Department of Industry, Technology and Commerce and the Public Service Board. From 1974 to 1978 he was Trade Commissioner (later Senior Trade Commissioner) in Tokyo. In 1987 he became a Deputy Secretary in the newly created Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Mr Lightowler was appointed as Australian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China in August 1991, an appointment that he held until December 1995.

Since then until 2002 Mr Lightowler worked as an advisor to several Australian companies with business interests in China. He has also been a member of the Boards of two companies with business interests in China. In March this year he retired. In June 1995 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia.

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