Eighty years after Hiroshima, the big nuclear risks are in Asia

Eighty years ago, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki helped end the largest war in history. The bomb has reshaped global power, deterrence and diplomacy ever since. Today, much of the world’s nuclear attention is fixed on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Russia’s brinkmanship. But Asia remains the region most affected by the nuclear age.

In Asia, where nuclear weapons were first used in warfare, nuclear issues continue to shape security dynamics. For decades, nuclear order was sustained mainly by the taboo against using the weapons. Cold War architecture and geopolitics reinforced restraint through escalation management, arms control and alliance discipline.

The Indo-Pacific is the world’s most diverse and dangerous nuclear environment. Longstanding rivalries, emerging threshold states and the absence of regional guardrails, such as hotlines and arms treaties, mean that strategic stability is increasingly improvised.

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