Is Asia on the verge of a nuclear arms race? As anxieties grow about China’s military buildup and about the reliability of the United States, will countries such as South Korea and Japan go nuclear? And what will this mean for Australia?

Join us at the launch of the latest issue of Australian Foreign Affairs – The Bomb: Will Asia Go Nuclear? – which explores changes in the region that have left countries such as Australia contemplating previously unthinkable options. Brendan Taylor, Stephan Frühling and Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan discuss China’s nuclear strategy, the nuclear breakout options for South Korea and Japan, and the prospect of an Australian Manhattan Project. Moderated by Carolyn Bull.

You can purchase The Bomb directly through the Australian Foreign Affairs website, here.

About the speakers
Dr Rajagopalan Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan is Resident Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. She is also a member of the National Bureau of Asian Research’s Board of Advisors.

Brendan Taylor is Professor of Strategic Studies and Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs. He is a specialist on great power strategic relations in the Asia-Pacific, East Asian ‘flashpoints’, and Asian security architecture.

Professor Stephan Frühling teaches and researches at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of The Australian National University and has widely published on Australian defence policy, defence planning and strategy, nuclear weapons and NATO.

About Australian Foreign Affairs
Australian Foreign Affairs is the country’s leading foreign affairs journal. In a world arguably less stable than at any time since World War II, it examines the most significant global issues affecting Australia.

The journal makes foreign affairs accessible to a wide readership. It encourages debate and is open to divergent views. Its readers need no other qualification than an interest in key foreign developments affecting Australia and the region, and a curiosity about the possible outcomes and responses.

Contributors are among Australia’s top thinkers, including Penny Wong, Paul Keating, Hugh White, Emma Shortis, Michael Wesley, and more.

Australian Foreign Affairs has three issues a year, published in February, July and October. It is edited by Jonathan Pearlman.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Coral Bell School's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, and Australian Foreign Affairs.

Image credit: Getty Images/Anton Petrus

Additional information:

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Contact the host of The Bomb: Will Asia Go Nuclear?