WMD in Asia-Pacific
Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

WMD in Asia-Pacific

[BOOK] WMD in Asia-Pacific

Edited by Peter Hayes, Tanvi Kulkarni, Chung-in Moon and Shatabhisha Shetty

Description

The Asia-Pacific region impacts every dimension of the global agenda, with acute tensions, complex dynamics and military risks in Northeast Asia and Southern Asia, accompanied by the steady growth in the size and sophistication of regional nuclear arsenals, the means of delivery, and potentially destabilizing defensive systems. With the world’s economic, political and security centres of gravity shifting, the region’s stake in a secure world order – and its responsibility to contribute with ideas, policy proposals and vision – has grown commensurately.

WMD in Asia-Pacific offers a timely and comprehensive assessment of the WMD threats in the Asia-Pacific, including threats from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The book is a compilation of nineteen special reports published by the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN) in 2021 and early 2022. Twenty-one experts address critical issues and present assessments of the baseline status of, and trends in, vertical and horizontal proliferation of WMD across the region.

In surveying the WMD landscape, WMD in Asia-Pacific focuses on where wars involving WMD might begin in three locations – Southern Asia, the Taiwan Strait, and the Korean Peninsula – while examining how asymmetric force structures and future proliferation may increase the risk of using WMD. The book also presents possible ways and strategies for reducing the risk that WMD – especially nuclear – might be used and offers related non-proliferation and disarmament strategies tailored to the Asia-Pacific.

With its vast range and authoritative analyses, WMD in Asia-Pacific sets out be a benchmark educational resource on WMD capabilities in the Asia-Pacific for scholars, students, journalists, policy makers and interested readers.

Contents

CONTRIBUTORS

PREFACE

1. SURVEYING THE WMD LANDSCAPE IN ASIA-PACIFIC
Peter Hayes and Shatabhisha Shetty

SECTION I

2. A LOOMING STRATEGIC ARMS RACE IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION: FROM A CHINESE PERSPECTIVE
Luo Xi

3. ASSESSING THE MODERNIZATION OF NUCLEAR POSTURES
Petr Topychkanov

4. NUCLEAR- CAPABLE MISSILES
Nick Hansen

5. NUCLEAR COMMAND, CONTROL, AND COMMUNICATIONS (NC3) IN ASIA-PACIFIC
Peter Hayes

6. STATUS OF EXISTING AND EMERGING ASIA-PACIFIC SPACE POWERS CAPABILITIES
Namrata Goswami

7. THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND HORIZONTAL PROLIFERATION IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
John Carlson

8. EXTENDED DETERRENCE AND EXTENDED NUCLEAR DETERRENCE IN A PANDEMIC WORLD
Allan Behm

9. CHEMICAL WEAPONS IN THE ASIA- PACIFIC: HISTORY, SCIENCE, AND FUTURE PROSPECT
Jonathan Forman and Alexander Kelle

10. ASIA-PACIFIC PERSPECTIVE ON BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS AND NUCLEAR DETERRENCE IN THE PANDEMIC ERA
Richard Pilch and Miles Pomper

SECTION II

11. INDIA-PAKISTAN NUCLEAR DYNAMICS
Rakesh Sood

12. NUCLEAR ESCALATION IN A TAIWAN STRAIT CRISIS?
Robert Ayson

13. ASYMMETRIC WMD THREATS: DPRK NUCLEAR, CYBER, AND BIO-CHEMICAL WEAPONS CAPABILITIES
Sang-Hyun Lee

SECTION III

14. GREAT POWER RISK REDUCTION MEASURES AND LESSONS FOR THE ASIA-PACIFIC
Dmitry Stefanovich

15. TRILATERAL STRATEGIC CONFIDENCE BUILDING MEASURES IN SOUTHERN ASIA
Feroz Hassan Khan

16. IS A NUCLEAR DOMINO IN NORTHEAST ASIA REAL AND INEVITABLE?
Chung-in Moon

17. NUCLEAR WEAPONS-FREE ZONES IN ASIA
Tuya Nyamosor

18. NPT-TPNW STANDOFF: WHO CAN BREAK THIS GRIDLOCK?
Nobuyasu Abe

19. HOPE BECOMES LAW: THE TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION
Richard Tanter

Copyright

© 2022 Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN). Copyright of individual chapters is maintained by the chapters’ authors.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:

Peter Hayes, Tanvi Kulkarni, Chung-in Moon, and Shatabhisha Shetty (eds.), WMD in Asia-Pacific. Seoul, South Korea: Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, 2022.

To access detailed and updated information about the CC BY licenses, please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

All the external links were active on 23/03/2022 unless otherwise stated. Digital material and resources associated with this volume are available at www.apln.network

ISBN Digital (PDF): 979-11-978202-0-5

DOI: 10.979.11978202/05

Cover image created by Sophia Mauro, CC BY.

Copyedited and Compiled by Maureen Jerrett.

The papers in this book were first presented at the ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the Asia Pacific Workshop’, December 1-4, 2020, organized by the APLN. The workshop and the publication of this book are funded by the Asia Research Fund (Seoul).