US Nuclear Strategy in a Changing Indo-Pacific

Date: Friday 7 June 2024
Venue: Research Centre Conference Suite, 9th Floor, Fawcett House, LSE

The conference was convened by the Phelan US Centre Affiliates, Professor Matthew Jones (LSE Department of International History), Assistant Professor Rohan Mukherjee (LSE Department of International Relations), and Assistant Professor Lauren Sukin (LSE Department of International Relations).

Recent years have seen significant changes in the security dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region, particularly in nuclear posture and strategy. Some of these changes have been quantitative, such as China’s ongoing nuclear buildup and North Korea’s advancing nuclear capability. Others have been qualitative, such as the evolving nuclear doctrines of India and Pakistan. New relationships centred on nuclear or nuclear-based deterrence are emerging, including the AUKUS agreement involving the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and now France, as well as the Washington Declaration between the United States and South Korea. There is also increasing engagement between NATO and states in the Indo-Pacific, such as South Korea and Japan.

Moreover, conversations around nuclear proliferation, such as in South Korea, have taken on renewed urgency due to growing tensions between China, on the one hand, and the United States and its regional allies and partners, on the other. Meanwhile, as Russia issues nuclear threats during its war in Ukraine, Europe is once again a point of great-power contestation and potential nuclear escalation.

This one-day conference, hosted by the Phelan US Centre, brought together over a dozen scholars and analysts from the US, UK, and Europe to connect academic research and policy-relevant thinking on practical and contemporary issues surrounding nuclear security in the Indo-Pacific. The conference also considered how regional changes are producing risks and opportunities for the United States as a superpower outside of the region, and it assessed how and how well Washington’s nuclear strategy is responding to changes in the security environment of the Indo-Pacific.