Rekindling Disarmament Leadership

17 Jan 2025 | APLN

17 January 2025

This week, APLN Chair Marty Natalegawa reflects on ASEAN’s regional leadership in 2011, contrasting it with the challenges of 2025; while APLN Senior Research Adviser Tanya Ogilvie-White underscores the urgency of bold disarmament leadership, both emphasising the critical need for diplomacy and dialogue in navigating evolving security dynamics.

As always, we share recent activities from our network, including analysis on the geopolitical landscape in 2025, South Korea’s domestic politics, Australia’s middle power diplomacy, and more.

Generating Positive Security Dynamics: From 2011 to 2025

Marty Natalegawa reflects on the relatively cooperative and diplomacy-driven security dynamics of 2011, when APLN was established, and contrasts them with the fragmented, trust-deficient, and increasingly polarized landscape of 2025, emphasising the critical role of deliberate policy choices in shaping these outcomes.

Read the Korea Times column

Toward a New High-Level Disarmament Initiative

Tanya Ogilvie-White observes that Nihon Hidankyo’s Nobel Peace Prize win serves as a stark reminder of the escalating nuclear risks. She argues that the hibakusha’s enduring courage and advocacy should inspire a new high-level disarmament initiative, and urges political leaders to take bold, immediate action to reduce nuclear risks and work toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Read the Korea Times column

APLN has over 160 members from 22 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
Each week we feature their latest contributions
to global and regional security debates.

See all member activities

Trump 2.0: Curse or Blessing?

Chung-in Moon, APLN Vice Chair, wrote for Hankyoreh and emphasised that South Korea must prepare for potential challenges posed by a second Trump presidency, including heightened defence cost-sharing demands, strained alliance relations, and trade protectionism.

Confidence Crisis in Korean Politics and Wake-Up Call

Kim Won-soo, former Under Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs of the United Nations, wrote for The Korea Times and argued that to overcome the current political crisis in South Korea, the ruling and opposition parties must reengage in constructive dialogue and address constitutional reforms.

Geopolitical Landscape in 2025

Eunjung Lim, Professor at the Division of International Studies, Kongju National University (KNU), was interviewed by Arirang News, where she discussed what South Korea can do to weather the diplomatic challenges it is expected to face amid its political unrest in the new year.

Australia’s Middle Power Diplomacy Matters

Gareth Evans, former Australian Foreign Minister and Chancellor of The Australian National University, wrote for East Asia Forum and highlighted that middle powers like Australia can wield significant influence on the global stage if they can harness enough will, resources and credibility.

US Curbs Lift on Indian Nuclear Entities May Boost Collab, Tech Access

Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Resident Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), commented on the US lifting sanctions on three Indian nuclear entities, considering it a positive development that reflects the changed and more strategically oriented relationship between India and the US.

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