SOUTHEAST ASIA IN THE THIRD NUCLEAR AGE
SOUTHEAST ASIA CONFERENCE 2024
On 9th May 2024, the Third Nuclear Age team hosted a workshop at Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta, Indonesia, designed to explore what the move into a Third Nuclear Age meant for people and policymakers in Southeast Asia. Participants came from across the region, and included academics, professionals and current and former political officials.
The workshop was organised across three panels:
1. The Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and nuclear disarmament
2. ASEAN, great power competition and threats to regional stability
3. Non-proliferation, nuclear energy and global zero.
Discussion ranged across topics such as: the importance of the Nuclear Ban Treaty; the future of the Southeast Asia NWFZ; the differing perceptions of “threat” between actors; concerns about the return of nuclear weapons to global politics, and especially the possibility of US-China conflict; the importance of different strategic cultures between Southeast Asia and “the West”; as well as the role that nuclear power might play for future energy demands and the associated proliferation risks.
