As more countries consider acquiring nuclear weapons, the EAS should take the lead in addressing the growing challenges of proliferation. Left unattended the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation is significant and growing; nowhere more so than in the Indo-Pacific. The NPT succeeded because it convinced countries contemplating acquiring nuclear weapons that proliferation was ultimately destabilizing. Countries such as South Korea and Poland talk openly about acquiring nuclear weapons. This has significant implications for extended nuclear deterrence, one of the supporting pillars of the nuclear non-proliferation regime.