| Dear Friends and Colleagues,
In May, leaders from China, Japan, and South Korea gathered in Seoul for a trilateral summit. Many welcomed the meeting as an effort to reinvigorate diplomatic engagement between the three countries. Others considered it an opportunity for South Korea and Japan to rebalance their relations between China and the US. On May 31, we published a Special Report on this topic by Joon Hyung Kim, a newly elected member of South Korea’s National Assembly from the progressive Rebuilding Korea Party. In his paper, Kim reviews the Yoon administration’s approach to managing US-China competition and offers a preview of what a South Korean progressive foreign policy could look like in the years ahead.
The trilateral summit was a much-needed positive development at a time of increasing nuclear risks in Northeast Asia, compounded by an overreliance on deterrence and coercive signalling. We tackled this issue during our recent webinar launch for our report on nuclear use in Northeast Asia by Van Jackson. The event recording is now available on our website and includes a presentation on the three-year project and its findings.
On May 29th, we held another webinar to launch our APLN-ELN report on Asia-Pacific flashpoints. The report explores how Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the UK each perceive major risks in the Asia-Pacific – including conflict in the Taiwan Strait and on the Korean Peninsula – and examines the obstacles to regional policy coordination.
May was also a busy month for APLN’s regional policy engagement. On May 21 and 22, six APLN members and staff joined Japanese President Kishida for the fourth meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World Without Nuclear Weapons (IGEP). We also held our Asia Dialogue on China-US Relations conference in Jakarta, where APLN members and project participants shared thoughts on how major power competition affects regional stability.
We anticipate another busy month in June with the forthcoming release of several major publications, including our final synthesis report for our Voices from the Pacific Islands project. I look forward to connecting with you all once more at the end of the month and I look forward to your feedback in the meantime. |
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| Kind regards,
Shatabhisha Shetty
APLN Executive Director |
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The Fourth Meeting of the International
Group of Eminent Persons (IGEP)
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| (from left to right): Tong Zhao, Michiru Nishida, Tanya Ogilvie-White, Manpreet Sethi, Nobumasa Akiyama, Marty Natalegawa |
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| On May 21 and 22, six APLN members and staff participated in the fourth meeting of the International Group of Eminent Persons for a World Without Nuclear Weapons (IGEP) that took place in Yokohama. The IGEP was created by the Japanese government to serve as a platform for experts to exchange ideas on how to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. The group discussed priorities and contemporary challenges in promoting nuclear disarmament, including the impact of emerging technologies; responsibilities, ethics, and norms surrounding nuclear weapons; and updates to nuclear arms control and non-proliferation regimes with a view to making recommendations to the 2026 NPT Review Conference. |
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| On May 9 and 10, APLN hosted a conference on the US-China relationship and its implications for regional stability as part of our Asia Dialogue project. The conference was held in Jakarta and included experts and practitioners from China, the United States, and several other countries across the Asia-Pacific. |
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South Korea’s Strategic Autonomy:
Maintaining Regional Stability Amid US-China Competition
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| In this special report, Joon Hyung Kim argues that South Korea’s current foreign policy strategy of closely aligning itself with the United States leaves little room for diplomatic manoeuvring. To prevent fueling a new Cold War, Kim argues that Seoul should take on an active role in deescalating China-US competition in Northeast Asia and build an alternative cooperative security architecture that can maintain regional stability. |
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Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons:
Victim Assistance and Environmental Remediation in the Pacific
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| In this Special Report, Becky Alexis-Martin, Qurat Ul Ain, Kolby Kaller, Ben Donaldson, and Matthew Maslen explain the legacy of nuclear weapons in the Pacific and the role that the TPNW can play in realising nuclear justice.
The authors focus on Articles 6 and 7 of the TPNW, which stipulate that States Parties must pursue environmental remediation and victim assistance for communities affected by nuclear testing. They propose recommendations for how the TPNW can operationalise these commitments, including through the creation of an Environmental Remediation and Victim Assistance Trust Fund. |
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[Webinar] What Should Be Done?
Practical Policies to Prevent Nuclear Catastrophe
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| On May 28, APLN held a webinar launch for our recent report on nuclear use in Northeast Asia. Van Jackson gave a presentation on the report findings, followed by a discussion with a panel of experts on how to pursue an effective, pragmatic, and holistic policymaking approach to avoid nuclear conflict. The event was a joint effort between APLN, the Nautilus Institute, and the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University. |
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[Webinar] How the Asia-Pacific Perceives Strategic Risks
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| On May 29, APLN joined up with its sister organisation, the European Leadership Network (ELN) to launch a new report exploring how Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the UK perceive strategic risks in the Asia-Pacific. Experts discussed where risk perceptions overlap, where they diverge, and how to coordinate policy approaches among these regional stakeholders. |
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Asia-Pacific Flashpoints: Comparing Australian, Japanese, South Korean & UK perceptions
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| In this report, Joel Petersson Ivre, Tanya Ogilvie-White, Alice Saltini, Oliver Meier, and Rishi Paul explore how Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom perceive strategic risks in the Asia-Pacific.
The report was published as part of our Asia-Pacific Strategic Risks project, in which APLN and the European Leadership Network conducted a series of interviews and roundtables with experts and officials from the four countries to determine their perceptions of major strategic risks in the region, including conflict in the Taiwan Strait and on the Korean Peninsula. The report finds that diverging perceptions of risk in the Asia-Pacific are potential obstacles to policy coordination and offers recommendations for how to address this. |
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| 8 May | Rabia Akhtar discusses different dimensions to US-China rivalry, including economic tension, technology and cybersecurity, military buildup and strategic posturing, regional diplomacy, and its implications for the Asia-Pacific geopolitical landscape. |
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| 17 May | Andrew Futter and Felicia Yuwono share insights on what moving into the “Third Nuclear Age” means for Southeast Asia. They discuss Southeast Asia’s ambitions and why it’s important to take this region into account when considering the nuclear future. |
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| 30 May | Malinda Meegoda argues that the Asia-Pacific is witnessing an escalating arms race with the proliferation of advanced missile technologies, raising concerns about broader proliferation risks and whether existing regulatory regimes are sufficient. |
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