At the mid-point of 2026, the Asia-Pacific strategic landscape continues to be reshaped by deep rivalries, shifting multilateral and minilateral alignments and the spillover effects of global conflicts. In partnership with the Global Asia journal, we bring together expert perspectives from across the region on how geopolitical dynamics are influencing strategic choices in the Asia-Pacific. Complementing this regional analysis, we published a special report by former Head of the US Mission to ASEAN Piper Campbell, assessing how shifts in US regional policy and US–China relations could shape ASEAN’s strategic options.

Shifting the lens from broad regional competition to nuclear non-proliferation, Jun Bong-geun calls for new domestic legislation that would reinforce South Korea’s commitment to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and address international proliferation concerns. Marianne Hanson reflects on the failure of the 2026 NPT Review Conference to reach consensus, arguing that renewed efforts to rebuild trust in the global non-proliferation regime are urgently needed.

Building on these publications, we convened a series of in-person discussions at the 21st Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity. We hosted three high-level sessions on regional security and strategic competition, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Jeju Peace Institute to deepen our collaboration, and organised a workshop examining how Asia-Pacific middle powers can contribute to conflict prevention and nuclear risk reduction.

Finally, we are delighted to welcome two new members, Mary Wareham and Alson Kelen, to the APLN network. Their expertise further strengthens the diversity of perspectives within our community, and we look forward to their contributions.

Thank you for your continued support of APLN. We look forward to staying connected and welcome your thoughts and feedback on our work.

In partnership with the Global Asia journal, we bring together expert perspectives examining how Asia-Pacific states are evolving amid growing geopolitical competition and contestation, and how regional players are restructuring their defence alignments and balancing relationships with both the US and China. The June 2026 special issue features nine essays spanning the region, covering Japan’s evolving defence posture, ASEAN’s internal challenges, Pakistan’s search for alternatives to a Western-led order, and China’s own strategies for reshaping the status quo.

Piper Campbell, former Head of the US Mission to ASEAN, examines what a shifting US regional policy means for Southeast Asian states confronting volatile US-China dynamics. She sets out four possible futures to 2035 that explore whether ASEAN can act with greater cohesion and whether US-China relations move toward accommodation or sharper contestation. To preserve regional room for manoeuvre, Campbell calls on ASEAN states to strengthen regional cohesion, deepen economic connectivity, coordinate more effectively on energy and trade pressures, and diversify external partnerships while continuing to engage both Washington and Beijing.

South Korea is one of the world’s leading nuclear energy producers, yet it remains dependent on external fuel-cycle services. Jun Bong-geun argues that developing independent fuel-cycle capabilities could address this longstanding structural weakness but cautions that success will hinge on maintaining international confidence in Seoul’s non-proliferation credentials. He proposes a basic law on the peaceful use of nuclear energy to codify principles of transparency, international cooperation, and the exclusively civilian application of nuclear technology within South Korea’s domestic legal framework.

Marianne Hanson argues that the 2026 NPT Review Conference’s failure to reach consensus is symptomatic of a deep malaise in the non-proliferation regime. Nuclear-weapon states are not only modernising and expanding their arsenals but increasingly acting in ways that heighten nuclear risks, while perceptions of double standards in how non-proliferation norms are applied continue to erode faith among non-nuclear-weapon states in the NPT’s central bargain. Restoring trust, reciprocity, and meaningful progress on disarmament, she argues, has never been more urgent.

At the 21st Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, APLN partnered with the Jeju Peace Institute and the East Asia Foundation to convene three high-level discussions bringing together senior policymakers, diplomats and leading experts. The discussions spanned the future of East Asia’s security architecture, ASEAN’s strategic options amid intensifying US–China competition, and the search for a more stable regional and international order.

On 23 June, APLN and the Jeju Peace Institute officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), establishing a formal framework for our partnership. Building on our successful collaboration during the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, this agreement will expand joint research, knowledge exchanges, and policy dialogues. 

On 24 June, APLN hosted a workshop on Jeju Island, South Korea, as part of its Asia Dialogue on China-US Relations. Participants examined the practical roles available to Asia-Pacific middle powers in today’s security environment, from building collective resilience against potential retaliation by larger powers to advancing nuclear risk reduction. The discussion also considered what a realistic middle-power conflict prevention agenda could look like by 2035.

We are delighted to welcome two new members to our network:

Mary Wareham (New Zealand), former Deputy Director of the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division at Human Rights Watch, founding coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, and a leading voice on humanitarian disarmament, including the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions; and

Alson Kelen (Marshall Islands), a Bikinian cultural elder and master navigator whose advocacy draws on the Marshall Islands’ lived experience of nuclear testing. He is co-founder and Director of Waan Aelōň in Majel.