The seabed doesn’t end at Southeast Asia

(Christopher Burke – Lowy The Interpreter) The 2026 Shangri-La Dialogue helped bring much-needed attention to the digital infrastructure of undersea cables, landing stations, pipelines and related. On the sidelines of the recent dialogue in Singapore, 17 countries launched the Guiding Principles for Underwater Infrastructure Defence Exchanges to strengthen cooperation on what are often invisible challenges. Australia was among the participating countries, alongside partners from Europe, the Middle East, Oceania and Southeast Asia. AUKUS is moving in the same direction. Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced a project under AUKUS Pillar II focused on advanced payloads and enabling systems for uncrewed undersea vehicles with delivery expected from 2027. The aim is to support the protection of critical seabed infrastructure, while strengthening undersea surveillance, logistics and wider maritime capability. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles also warned at Shangri-La that the seabed has become a major field of contest. – The seabed doesn’t end at Southeast Asia | Lowy Institute