Projects

APLN has worked with partners in the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the United States to highlight the benefits of independent, internal “fail-safe” reviews in nuclear-armed states. Fail-safe reviews are aimed at strengthening safeguards to prevent unauthorized, inadvertent, or mistaken use of a nuclear weapon, including through false warning of an attack. These reviews would be effective unilateral nuclear risk-reduction steps, not requiring any negotiation, treaty, or verification.

The APLN Asia Dialogue on China-US Relations brings together senior experts and scholars from China, the United States, and the wider Asia-Pacific region to discuss China-US relations within a regional context. The project aims to plug knowledge gaps and increase the understanding among regional stakeholders of how complex regional dynamics impact China-US relations; increase awareness of the Asia-centred dynamics that influence China-US bilateral relations; to increase the sense of agency and responsibility among states in Asia on their capacity to shape the region’s security environment; and to address China-US geopolitical tensions via a third-party, Asia-centred approach, which offers the opportunity to engage in constructive dialogue on issues that are difficult to address in bilateral China-US Track 2 initiatives. The project is supported by a generous grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Asia-Pacific Strategic Risks project convenes government officials, experts, and practitioners from South Korea, Japan, Australia, and the UK to discuss how changing threat perceptions impact new and ongoing proliferation challenges and what policy solutions can address them, including steps to encourage strategic restraint, greater collaboration and carefully honed nuclear risk reduction diplomacy. The project is a collaboration with the European Leadership Network and is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office.

The Nuclear Order in East Asia project explores the evolving perceptions of the role of nuclear weapons in national and regional security. The project addresses evolving views on US extended deterrence, China’s nuclear modernisation, North Korea’s nuclear program, and regional debates on nuclear latency.