The Australian Financial Review's China Correspondent, Michael Smith, will release a book in June. The Last Correspondent: Dispatches from the Frontline of Xi's New China will feature first-person accounts of life on the ground in China, as well as key players in Chinese society. The Last Correspondent will explore what China’s rise to become the world’s newest superpower means for Australia and the rest of the world.

Michael reported for The Australian Financial Review from China until September 2020, when the last Australian journalists were compelled by the Chinese government to leave. He is currently based in Sydney.