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This week’s newsletter is a special feature, highlighting our joint effort with the European Leadership Network to promote nuclear arms control ahead of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima through a global group statement, endorsed by 250 influential figures from the Asia-Pacific, Europe, the United States, Latin America, and Africa.
APLN Chair Marty Natalegawa and ELN Chair Des Browne write on the urgent need for nuclear arms control, and Hidehiko Yuzaki, APLN member and governor of the Hiroshima Prefecture, recounts Hiroshima’s nuclear legacy and the importance of nuclear disarmament at this crucial time. |
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| As G7 Heads meet this week in Hiroshima, over 250 figures from 50 countries warn that nuclear arms control must not be allowed to fall victim to geopolitical competition.
In a statement released by the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network and the European Leadership Network, former prime ministers, defence ministers, foreign ministers, senior military figures, diplomats and others issue a call for action.
“We have many different views on the rights and wrongs of current geopolitical competition. But we all agree that it is long past time to start prioritising nuclear arms control and taking unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral actions.” the statement says.
The statement calls on Russia and the United States to pursue a successor framework to the nuclear arms reduction treaty, New START, before its expiration in 2026, and for all states to reaffirm commitments not to test nuclear weapons and make concerted efforts toward the entry-into-force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). |
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Leaders must save nuclear arms control for all our sakes
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| Marty Natalegawa, Chair of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network, former Foreign Minister of Indonesia |
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| Des Browne, Chairman of the European Leadership Network, former UK Defence Secretary |
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| The chairpersons of APLN and ELN co-authored an op-ed for Kyodo News, emphasising the crucial message of the joint APLN-ELN statement.
They highlight the threat of nuclear weapon use in the current geopolitical climate, the erosion of arms-control agreements, and the potential for a destabilizing nuclear arms race.
They call for the continuation of the New START treaty, and the need for strategic stability talks among nuclear weapons states. They stress the importance of all states fulfilling their non-proliferation and disarmament obligations and urge the P5 countries to work together as they did during the Cold War. |
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G7 Hiroshima Summit:
An opportunity to advance nuclear disarmament
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| Hidehiko Yuzaki, APLN member and governor of the Hiroshima Prefecture, writes for Korea Times on the importance of global leaders visiting Hiroshima to understand the inhumane nature of nuclear weapons, and advocate for their elimination. He calls for reframing nuclear disarmament through sustainability and hopes that the G7 Summit will chart a path toward a peaceful, nuclear-free world. |
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| The Guardian reported on the APLN-ELN global group statement ahead of the G7 Hiroshima summit, noting that it “lends momentum” to the Japanese Prime Minister’s efforts to frame the summit around nuclear weapons risks. |
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| ABC Radio National Breakfast reported on the G7 Hiroshima summit, interviewing Emma Belcher, President of the Ploughshares Fund and one of the signatories of the APLN-ELN global group statement. |
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Keeping Nuclear Memories Alive: APLN-ISYP Roundtable
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| Memories of Cold War nuclear near-misses and nuclear testing in places like the Pacific Islands are fading as time passes and their significance is now being forgotten by many. How can younger generations remain conscious of the risks and actual costs of nuclear weapons?
On Friday 26 May, 9am KST (Thursday, May 25, 8 pm EDT), APLN and the International Student/Young Pugwash (ISYP) will co-host a roundtable and explore strategies on how to keep nuclear memories and consciousness alive. |
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| Gareth Evans, former APLN Chair and former Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, has been awarded the biennial Jeju 4.3 Peace Award.
In giving the 2023 award to Professor Evans, the Jeju 4.3 Peace Foundation said: “In today’s world, where human rights are neglected and state violence is rampant, such as in the case of the Myanmar crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the awarding of the Jeju 4.3 Peace Prize to Professor Gareth Evans will be a very meaningful message to the world.” |
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APLN has more than 130 members from 20 countries in the Asia-Pacific. Below we feature some of their contributions to security debates in the region and beyond.
The latest APLN member activities can be found on the APLN website. |
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| Chung-in Moon, APLN Vice Chair, was interviewed by The Washington Times. He urged the U.S. and South Korean leader to look to the example set by President Trump and reopen “imaginative and realistic” communication with North Korea. |
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| Manpreet Sethi, APLN Senior Research Adviser, argues that India must maintain nuclear sobriety in the future. Simultaneously, it can leverage its economic heft, political clout and cultural appeal to showcase the advantages of its philosophy of nuclear deterrence based on minimalism in numbers and restraint in roles and circumstances of use of nuclear weapons. |
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| Rakesh Sood, former Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Nepal, and France, argues that while the Space Policy 2023 reflects good intentions and a vision for the future, there is an urgent need to provide a timeframe for the necessary legal framework to successfully launch India into the Second Space Age. |
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| Tong Zhao, Senior Fellow at the Nuclear Policy Program of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, examines how the internal feedback loop among China’s leadership, policy elites, and the general public creates an underappreciated and unaddressed risk of war over Taiwan and what the international community can do to help. |
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| Mely Caballero-Anthony, Professor of International Relations and Head of Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at RSIS (NTU), talks about how the elements of and threats to human security evolve, lessons learned from responses to the pandemic, including remaining gaps, and the concept of empowerment in advancing human security. |
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| Yoichi Funabashi, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Asia Pacific Initiative, writes on the Japan-South Korea Summit and points out that both Asian countries are on the front lines of the geopolitical offensives mounted by Eurasian dictatorships and their expanding spheres of influence, so they must cooperate as states within a security network based on the United States alliance. |
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| Eunjung Lim, Associate Professor at the Division of International Studies at Kongju National University, shares her observation on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the US. She pointed out that China and the United States used to cooperate on the matter, and China played an important role in promoting multilateral dialogue. |
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| Nobumasa Akiyama, APLN Senior Associate Fellow and Professor at Hitotsubashi University, features on the podcast ‘Japan Memo’ to share his expertise on the nuclear sharing debate in Japan, nuclear debates in South Korea and their implications for nuclear proliferation in the region. |
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| Shyam Saran, Former Indian Foreign Secretary, writes on SCO ministerial and argues that to seize multilateral moment, India must invest in corps of negotiators to make its presence felt at global meets. |
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