| In this week’s edition, Matthew Sharp, Celia McDowall, and Toby Dalton argue that South Korea’s plans for uranium enrichment and nuclear-powered submarines will only succeed if Seoul backs them with concrete measures showing they are not a path to nuclear weapons. We also release Underwater-Nuclear Nexus in the Asia-Pacific, a new volume from our Maritime Incidents and Escalation project, edited by Dongkeun Lee. Its seven papers examine how the spread nuclear-powered submarines is reshaping nuclear and maritime security across the region. Finally, Sabariah Kader Ibrahim and Nur Dania Adnan propose a 12-month pilot, coordinated by ASEANTOM, to help Southeast Asian governments test their safeguards capabilities before signing nuclear energy deals.
Our weekly roundup of member activities covers Japan’s nuclear policy in a changing East Asia, China’s Global Security Initiative, the strategic choices facing the Indian Air Force, and how Southeast Asia sees the future of global cooperation. |
|
|
Is it a Nuclear Hedge? Why South Korea Should Reassure About Its Non-Weapons Nuclear Intentions
|
|
| South Korea is moving to develop civilian uranium enrichment and reprocessing, and has agreed with the United States to acquire conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. Each initiative has a stated civilian or defensive purpose. Taken together, and against a backdrop of well-documented South Korean public interest in nuclear weapons, they could be read as building a nuclear hedge.
In this policy brief, Matthew Sharp, Celia McDowall, and Toby Dalton argue that such ambiguity would undercut Seoul’s own goals, since both programmes depend on long-term US cooperation and wider international trust. Drawing on how Japan and Australia have addressed similar concerns, they identify the audiences Seoul must reassure (the United States, the wider international community, China, and North Korea). They also set out a range of measures, from legally binding limits and prohibitions to voluntary transparency and enhanced cooperation with the IAEA. |
|
|
Underwater-Nuclear Nexus in the Asia-Pacific: Nuclear-Powered Submarine Proliferation and Its Consequences
|
|
|
A new volume edited by Dongkeun Lee brings together seven papers examining the growing interconnectedness of nuclear and undersea security in the Asia-Pacific. The volume features expert insights from Jamie Kwong, Jennifer Parker, Sanghoe Lee, Joel Petersson-Ivre, Julius Cesar Trajano, and Ariel (Phantitra) Phuphaphantakarn on the rapid growth of nuclear-powered submarine fleets and examines three broad themes: the development of SSNs ASW capabilities among regional middle-power countries; US-China competition in the undersea domain; and non-traditional and emerging security risks associated with nuclear-powered submarine operations. The expert papers provide perspectives on:
- why Australia, South Korea, and Japan are investing in submarine and anti-submarine capabilities,
- the narrowing US-China gap in attack submarines,
- escalation risks from China’s growing ballistic missile submarine fleet,
- the region’s readiness for a maritime nuclear emergency, and
- how quantum technologies could erode submarine stealth.
The volume offers policy recommendations on non-proliferation, workforce capacity, ASEAN nuclear emergency preparedness, and quantum-related risks via the proposed SIREN framework.
The project was supported by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung East Asia Office.
|
|
|
Before the Deal: ASEAN Should Test Nuclear Safeguards Readiness
|
|
|
As interest in nuclear energy grows across Southeast Asia, Sabariah Kader Ibrahim and Nur Dania Adnan argue that governments must look beyond technology and financing and ask whether they have the safeguards capacity to meet their international obligations. They propose a voluntary 12-month pilot, coordinated by the ASEAN Network of Regulatory Bodies on Atomic Energy (ASEANTOM), to help governments test their safeguards capabilities and address gaps before committing to nuclear procurement deals. The initiative would strengthen regional cooperation while helping ensure that nuclear energy ambitions are matched by the capacity to uphold non-proliferation commitments.
|
|
|
APLN has over 190 members from 26 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
Each week, we feature their latest contributions
to global and regional security debates.
|
|
| Nobumasa Akiyama, Professor at the School of International and Public Policy and the Graduate School of Law at Hitotsubashi University, was featured in the Japan Memo podcast, where he discussed Japan’s nuclear policy with Robert Ward, Lami Kim, and Daniel Salisbury. |
|
|
| Rabia Akhtar, founding Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Policy Research at the University of Lahore, joined CGTN’s roundtable to discuss the future of global security governance, the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and the evolving role of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). |
|
|
| C Uday Bhaskar, Director of the Society for Policy Studies (SPS), New Delhi, wrote for South Asia Monitor, arguing that air power will remain central to national security but questioned whether the Indian Air Force has enough of it in the right form, and whether India can afford it with its limited financial resources. |
|
|
| Natalie Sambhi, Founder and Executive Director of Verve Research, was featured on the China-Global South Podcast, discussed a new report, Voices From the Region: Reimagining Global Cooperation From Southeast Asia, on the China-Global South Podcast, covering global governance, ASEAN, and great-power competition. |
|
|
Was this newsletter forwarded to you?
Sign up here to receive weekly updates from APLN directly to your inbox.
|
|
|
Do you want direct updates on non-proliferation and disarmament issues
in the Asia-Pacific?
Before it’s in the newsletter, it’s on social media.
Follow APLN for direct updates in your favourite social media feed.
|
|
|
|
|
