As always, we highlight recent activities from our network, including analyses on arms control treaties, gender equality in national security, India’s role in a multipolar world, U.S.–China relations, and Vietnam’s approach to ASEAN.

Haleema Saadia argues that the 2025 Pakistan–Saudi Arabia Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement is politically expedient but strategically hollow. She outlines Pakistan’s lack of capability, credibility, and aligned interests to provide a nuclear umbrella, and highlights the legal and nonproliferation constraints that would render any such guarantee controversial and potentially illegal. Ultimately, the pact serves short-term political ends without altering the regional nuclear or security order.

APLN Senior Policy Fellow Joel Petersson Ivre writes for the Institute for Security and Development Policy on NATO and Korea-Sweden cooperation, examining the compatibility of South Korean and Swedish policy goals in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. His analysis focuses on three dimensions: the conceptual misalignment between Swedish and South Korean security outlooks; South Korea’s more transactional approach to Europe compared to Sweden’s long-term commitment to the Korean Peninsula; and the potential impact of defence cooperation on engagement with North Korea.

APLN has over 170 members from 23 countries in the Asia-Pacific.
Each week we feature their latest contributions
to global and regional security debates.