About the author
In the decade she has been reporting on Asia, Alexandra Harney has become an important voice on the global implications of business, politics and social issues in this vitally important, dynamic region. From the disgruntled factory worker to the ambitious Chinese chief executive, she brings to life the people who make the news, providing insight that listeners and readers connect to on a personal level.
She is fascinated by the intersection of human stories and global themes, particularly the dispersion of manufacturing to developing countries and the international impact of the rise of China.
Alexandra has devoted her career to international issues. She spent nine years at the Financial Times, covering China, Japan, and the UK, and helping launch a flagship analysis section.
When she joined the paper in Tokyo in 1998, she was the newspaper’s youngest foreign correspondent. Starting in 2003, Alexandra covered southern China for the newspaper, taking a leave of absence starting in February 2006 to research and write The China Price: The True Cost of Chinese Competitive Advantage. In late 2007, Alexandra resigned from the Financial Times to write on a freelance basis.
In addition to the Financial Times, Alexandra’s work has been published in international newspapers and magazines including the Wall Street Journal, Marie Claire, CNN.com and Campaign. She has contributed to National Public Radio and the BBC World Service and was a regular commentator, in Japanese, on Japanese television. She has addressed corporate groups and university audiences around the world.
Before joining the Financial Times, Alexandra researched Japanese defense policy at Tokyo University’s graduate school on a fellowship from the Japanese government and worked as an aide to Nakatani Gen, a Japanese politician. She is the winner of multiple scholarships to Japan and won the 2003 Sir Peter Parker Award for Spoken Business Japanese.
A Mandarin speaker, she has been named a Young Leader by the National Committee on US-China Relations. The United States-Japan Foundation also selected her as a delegate to its US-Japan Leadership Program for 2008 and 2009.
A 1997 cum laude graduate of Princeton University, Alexandra was born in Washington, DC and now lives in Hong Kong. Click here to go to The China Price blog or email the author here.