New Members, Space Power in the Asia-Pacific and Member Activities

20 Aug 2021 | APLN

20 August 2021

Dear Network Members and Colleagues,

In this week’s newsletter, we welcome Gary Quinlan AO as our newest senior member. We also feature a new special report on developments of space capabilities across the Asia-Pacific by Dr. Namrata Goswami, and share a interview with a KAIST-NEREC Summer Fellow and member activities.

APLN is delighted to welcome Gary Quinlan AO to our network. Mr. Quinlan was Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Deputy Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australia’s Senior Official to ASEAN and to the East Asia Summit.

On 17 August, APLN published a special report by Dr. Namrata Goswami, independent space expert. Dr. Goswami examines the risks of growing space-based weapons capabilities in countries across the Asia-Pacific, particularly those of China and India. She assesses the prospects of proliferation of space warfare capabilities, the institutional and legal regimes and constraints on space weaponization, worst-case militarization scenarios, and pathways for demilitarizing space.

Key findings include:

China has one of the most ambitious space programs in the world, aiming to establish itself as a world leader in space by 2050 with an annual budget of approximately $8 billion for improving its space capabilities.
India views space as part of its grand strategy to defend and expand its power with an independent space launch capacity, missions launched to the Moon and Mars, and an anti-satellite (ASAT) capability.
DPRK has not yet demonstrated anti-satellite capabilities but has developed capacities which can be used to paralyze communications satellites in the case of skirmishes with adversaries.
Japan has been developing advanced radar systems, space situational awareness satellites and satellite interceptors.
Australia recently established a space program and the Australian Space Agency has a roadmap on securing Australian space assets.
Pakistan is likely to utilize its relationship with China to develop its space capacity to deter and threaten its rival, India.

Read Report

Interview with KAIST-NEREC Summer Fellow

The KAIST-NEREC Summer Fellows Program is an intensive, short-term education and training course on nuclear nonproliferation for undergraduate and graduate students. It aims to train and nurture the next generation of international leaders in nuclear nonproliferation. As one of the program’s sponsors, APLN fellows joined the program to attend some of the lectures and interact with the KAIST-NEREC Summer Fellows. They interviewed Yoonki Lee, an undergraduate student at Hanyang University, about his experiences at as a young fellow. Read more

China’s New Silos: Nuclear Arms Control More Urgent Than Ever
On 19 August, APLN Chair Gareth Evans published an opinion piece in Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter, commenting on the recent revelations of Chinese missile silo construction. He argues that the Chinese missile silos are emblematic of a global nuclear arms race that must be urgently contained, primarily through risk reduction efforts. Read more President Moon’s Liberation Day Speech and South Korea’s Peace Process
On 18 August, APLN Senior Associate Fellow Jessica Lee appeared on ArirangTV’s show Peace and Prosperity, commenting on the speech given by South Korean President Moon Jae-in on South Korea’s national independence day. She discusses the ongoing US-ROK military exercises and what the US’s withdrawal from Afghanistan means for its foreign policy in Asia. Watch the interview here.Controversy Over the “Three Noes” on THAAD and National Interest
On 9 August, APLN vice-Chair and Special Adviser Chung-in Moon was featured in Hankyoreh, where he discusses negotiations between South Korea and China about the deployment of THAAD. He argues that the South Korean government provided sensible explanations that maintained the status quo between the US and China. Read more Resumption of China-US Contacts: Use of Protocol as Peacetime Weapon in an Unstable World
On 2 August, APLN member Dr. Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury published an opinion piece on Inter Press Service. He discusses the stalled state of diplomacy between China and the United States, and argues that “the world must learn to live with the burgeoning Sino-US rivalry.” Read more

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