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Militarisation of Asia and the nuclear danger

Asia is steadily becoming increasingly militarised

 arms spending by Asian nations will this year for the first time overtake that of European countries. China, Japan, India, South Korea and Australia accounted for more than 80 per cent of total Asian defence spending 

While there is recognition of the devastating consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, [in  The Lowy report recommendations] there does not appear to be enunciation of the logical goal of getting rid of the weapons.

Asia: Dangers Of Extended Nuclear Deterrence – Analysis, Eurasia Review, By Neena Bhandari, April 28, 2012 With India and Pakistan testing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles this April, close on the heels of North Korea’s unsuccessful test launch of a long-range rocket, a new report by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute for International Policy says it is Asian strategic mistrust that is holding back nuclear disarmament.

According to Lowy’s international security programme director Rory Medcalf, who is also principal editor of the report titled Disarming Doubt: The Future of Extended Nuclear Deterrence in East Asia, the nuclear disarmament push in Asia had stalled, owing to the region’s tangle of strategic mistrust.
In particular, North Korea’s continuing provocative nuclear and
missile programmes, leaving Japan and South Korea looking to their
defences; US allies unwilling to weaken the ‘extended deterrence’
umbrella under which they are defended by American nuclear weapons;
China unwilling to cap the growth or modernisation of its nuclear
arsenal; and the China-India-Pakistan triangle of mistrust and arms
competition adding another major obstacle to nuclear arms control and
disarmament in Asia.

Medcalf said this situation could be worsened if the high cost of
conventional weapons ever drove a future US Administration to expand
the role of nuclear armaments in America’s strategic ‘pivot’ back to
Asia.
Asia is steadily becoming increasingly militarised, as a result of
rapid economic growth and strategic uncertainty. The International
Institute for Strategic Studies in London said in March 2012 that arms spending by Asian nations will this year for the first time overtake that of European countries. China, Japan, India, South Korea and Australia accounted for more than 80 per cent of total Asian defence spending and Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam were all investing in improving air and naval capacities.

Mixed Bag
The Lowy report makes policy recommendations for governments to  untangle Asia’s nuclear dangers. Dr Sue Wareham, Member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons’ (ICAN) Management
Committee in Australia, says: “The recommendations are a mixed bag. While there is recognition of the devastating consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, there does not appear to be enunciation of the logical goal of getting rid of the weapons.”….
Dr Leonid A. Petrov, Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of
Sydney says: ….by intensifying diplomatic ties and expanding
economic cooperation with both halves of divided Korea, the US and its
allies like Australia can make a significant contribution to the
peaceful resolution of the nuclear problem and prepare the basis for
durable peace and prosperity in the region…..
The study calls for an urgent need to reduce the reliance on nuclear
weapons by all nuclear weapons states and to move with all possible
speed to the negotiation of a nuclear weapons convention that will ban
these weapons completely.
http://www.eurasiareview.com/28042012-asia-dangers-of-extended-nuclear-deterrence-analysis/

April 30, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general