Nuclear Security in Asia: A Global Affair
My goal with this paper is to stimulate some thinking as to how scientists, concerned with nonproliferation and arms control, can address their efforts to improve the security environment in Asia, an environment that impacts the security of the entire world. The processes that led to the nuclearization of Asia are complex, with each country's nuclear weapons program tightly coupled to internal and regional politics and to national rivalries. Therefore, the first step toward nuclear stability, and ideally proliferation reversal, in Asia is to understand the motivations for and evolution of these programs. The author begins by addressing the evolution of the nuclear weapons programs of India, China, and Pakistan. Next he discusses why India (and then Pakistan) may have felt compelled to clear the ambiguity of their programs with their 1998 nuclear tests. He also explores why the P5 states (U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China) were unable to persuade India and Pakistan to stop or reverse their nuclear weapons programs. I then look at other countries' actions and reactions that may amplify or dampen the response of India, Pakistan, and China to what they perceive as a deterioration of their security environment. Finally he looks at regional activities that may reverse the deteriorating global security that has resulted from a nuclearized South Asia. This situation is something of a paradox because, at the same time the South Asia security environment is deteriorating, Russia and the U.S., the former Cold War adversaries, are finally taking steps to reduce the massive nuclear arsenals that threatened global security for so many years.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-Eng-48
- OSTI ID:
- 791071
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-140532; TRN: US200302%%497
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Seventh ISODARCO-Beijing Seminar on Arms Control, Xian (CN), 10/08/2000--10/12/2000; Other Information: PBD: 1 Sep 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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