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In this report Eric Heginbotham addresses the potential impact of a Northeast Asian Nuclea Weapons Free Zone on U.S. and allied deterrence capabilities in potential Korean Peninsula and Taiwan Strait scenarios. The report focuses primarily on technical military questions related to the balance and nature of military capabilities in those areas.

Eric Heginbotham is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation specializing in East Asian security issues. He has recently led RAND projects assessing U.S. engagement opportunities and challenges in Southeast Asia and on U.S. and Chinese relative military capabilities.

This report was originally presented at the New Approach to Security in Northeast Asia: Breaking the Gridlock workshop held on October 9th and 10th, 2012 in Washington, DC.

In this short report Fan Jishe updates China’s official position on Nuclear Weapon Free Zones (NWFZ) in general, and analyzes China’s interests in a Northeast Asia NWFZ (NEA-NWFZ) in particular.

Fan Jishe is an associate research fellow at the Institute for American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Science and a visiting scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.

This report was originally presented at the New Approach to Security in Northeast Asia: Breaking the Gridlock workshop held on October 9th and 10th, 2012 in Washington, DC. 

Efforts to get North Korea to give up its nuclear program and to resolve the outstanding security issues that plague the search for peace on the Korean Peninsula seem intractable. The Six-Party talks appear hopelessly stalled, and yet, among forward-thinking policymakers, the search is under way for how to reign in the North Korean nuclear threat.
Nautilus Institute Director Peter Hayes examines one proposal by noted American foreign policy expert Mortin Halperin that may contain just the right ingredients for a comprehensive solution, now that all parties to the Six-Party talks are beginning 2013 with new governments.

Peter Hayes is Director of the Nautilus Institute and a member of the Editorial Board of Global Asia. He is also Adjunct Professor of International Relations at RMIT University.

This article was originally published in Global Asia’s 2012 Winter Edition (Volume 7 Number 4).

Climate adaptation challenges for Pakistan

by Saleem Janjua – Climate Change Adaptation Contributor
Pakistan, similar to other developing countries, is undergoing an evolution from an…

Shining Missile, Troubled Shipping

by Roger Cavazos – DPRK Contributor
OK, North Korea successfully launched a missile/rocket and stole the spotlight again like a shaman chanting wild…

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Noboru Yamaguchi states that U.S. “rebalancing” toward the Asia-Pacific region, if properly implemented, “could provide a tremendous opportunity for allied deterrence and defense to become less reliant on nuclear weapons”. To achieve this Yamaguchi suggests that ““rebalancing” should strengthen U.S. conventional deterrence while the defense posture maintained by its allies should be consonant with such US efforts. This convergence will result in a more reliable allied deterrence posture. and thus U.S. extended deterrence may not have to rely much, if at all, on nuclear weapons to dissuade possible opponents in the region from being aggressive.”

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Noboru Yamaguchi is currently a professor of military history and strategy at the National Defense Academy of Japan.

This report was originally presented at the New Approach to Security in Northeast Asia: Breaking the Gridlock workshop held on October 9th and 10th, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Political Rocketry

by Peter Hayes – Deterrence Contributor
North Korea’s rocketeers reportedly are busy bees at the Sohae launch site. Why now?…

Richard Tanter notes grave concerns raised by former Australian prime ministers concerning strategic policy towards China, and potential differences between Australian and US interests. The annual Australia-United States ministerial coordinating meeting brought an unprecedented level of Australian support for American space military capacities and closer technical integration through an escalating number of “joint facilities”. Tanter concludes by noting that “without the capacity to recognize and act on national interests, a country with a parliamentary democracy operates under a severe democratic deficit. Without that capacity, democratic policy formation about defence becomes a contradiction in terms, and more to the point, a dangerous impossibility.”

Richard Tanter is an Associate at the Nautilus Institute, and professor in the School of Social and Political Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Email: rtanter@nautilus.org

Richard Tanter of the Nautilus Institute notes grave concerns raised by former Australian prime ministers concerning strategic policy towards China, and potential differences between Australian and US interests. The annual Australia-United States ministerial coordinating meeting brought an unprecedented level of Australian support for American space military capacities and closer technical integration through an escalating number of “joint facilities”. Tanter concludes by noting that “without the capacity to recognize and act on national interests, a country with a parliamentary democracy operates under a severe democratic deficit. Without that capacity, democratic policy formation about defence becomes a contradiction in terms, and more to the point, a dangerous impossibility.”

Richard Tanter is Senior Research Associate at the Nautilus Institute, and professor in the School of Social and Political Studies at the University of Melbourne.

Email: rtanter@nautilus.org