Seventeen countries are reported to have endorsed the Guiding Principles for Underwater Infrastructure Defence Exchanges at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. The United States and China did not participate in the endorsement. Separately, the AUKUS pact includes development of unmanned undersea vehicles.
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“17 nations launch pact to protect vital undersea cables amid US, China absence”
Read at South China Morning Post →The endorsement by 17 mostly middle-power nations represents a step toward multilateral stewardship of undersea cables as a global commons, though the absence of major powers and parallel AUKUS militarization raise concerns about enforceability and expanded naval presence.
“Shared norms versus great-power rivalries and creeping militarization”
The Guide highlights vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure and the limits of multilateral efforts without US or Chinese participation, while AUKUS development of unmanned vehicles provides a more credible deterrence path.
“State threats from actors such as China and preference for results-oriented alliances”
Governments are asserting regulatory and defense authority over privately operated cable networks, potentially expanding state surveillance and spending even without the major powers involved.
“Intergovernmental coordination versus private ownership and decentralized resilience”
All three views treat the reported Guide as a substantive response to sabotage risks while overlooking that most cable damage is accidental, systems are privately owned, and the effort may lack enforcement.
“Verification gaps and unexamined premises about threat sources and private sector roles”
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