Why Southeast Asian nations must do more to protect their critical maritime infrastructure

flash points | Security | Southeast Asia

When we talk about the maritime domain, we often think about fishing and shipping activities, and how they can be better regulated or protected from pirates, criminals, or other hostile activities. What is often forgotten is that today’s economies and supply chains are increasingly dependent on a wide range of maritime infrastructure.

Oil rigs, gas rigs, and the pipelines that connect them to land are crucial supply lines for fossil energy. Digital communication and Internet access depend on submarine fiber optic data cables through which up to 95 percent of transnational data traffic careers. The transition to green energy, vital to stopping global warming and climate change, means new dependencies. Increasingly, energy production is based on offshore facilities, such as wind farms or floating solar farms. These are the most effective carbon neutral technologies available. Countries like Vietnam or the Philippines have Huge prospects for the development of offshore wind energy and will be the region’s green energy homes of the future. Green energy farms rely on undersea power cables to connect them to land. In fact, a new regional submarine power grid is being created that will provide the opportunity to trade electricity over great distances, including a new connection between singapore and australia.

However, this infrastructure at sea is very vulnerable. In Europe, the still unresolved sabotage of the Nord Stream The oil pipelines that occurred in September 2022 in the Baltic Sea highlight how maritime infrastructure can become the direct target of attack. Taiwan reports suggest the frequent sabotage of submarine cables, stressing that such threats must also be taken seriously in the region. extremist groups and criminals could target maritime infrastructure. Many of the risks are also related to Daily marine activities. Fishing boats frequently damage the cablesand the new scale of infrastructure at sea may pose new navigational hazards for shipping. The expansion of investments in maritime infrastructure for green energy and digital connectivity mean that these vulnerabilities will become more important.

Until now, the protection of critical maritime infrastructure has barely featured in the region’s security debates and plans. Neither maritime security, nor energy security and cybersecurity programs have fully taken maritime infrastructure into account. An urgent discussion is needed on how national navies and coast guards can best protect these critical infrastructures. This will involve identifying how protection can be integrated into existing surveillance and patrol programmes, but also what skills and capabilities need to be developed to cope with expanding infrastructure at sea. Countries should also review whether they have the correct policies, spatial plans and criminal laws in place to designate the infrastructure that is most critical to their economies and to enable the necessary law enforcement and prosecution. However, this is not exclusively or primarily a national task.

most of infrastructure projects are transnational, traversing and connecting different national jurisdictions. With the expansion of green power grids, countries will become increasingly interdependent and connected through a regional electricity market. Through undersea data cables, the countries of Southeast Asia are not only connected to each other, but also to the world’s data centers and markets. Security institutions in the region, including, for example, the recently launched ASEAN Coast Guard Forum and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting You have to start discussing the issue. The aim should be to identify if and how an integrated and coherent approach to protection and joint standards can be developed and best practice shared.

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The main information exchange institution in the region, the Information Fusion Center (IFC) in Singapore has been a key vehicle for maritime security, and also has a vital role to play in protecting critical maritime infrastructure. As a trusted institution, you need to start systematically collecting and sharing information about incidents that occur and monitoring suspicious behavior in close proximity to key infrastructure. It should also start to raise awareness of the current and future criticality of maritime infrastructure. IFC also has strong experience in engaging with industry stakeholders. It must expand its network through close dialogue with the various sectors of the maritime infrastructure industries, particularly the wind, solar and cable industries.

Since safe and resilient maritime infrastructure is the lifeblood of the global economy and is necessary for the green transition, improving security is in everyone’s interest. While ASEAN countries must ensure the security of their regional infrastructure, this also applies to countries outside the region. Donors and capacity building providers in the region, particularly states with strong export-oriented infrastructure industries such as Denmark, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, should support countries in the region to develop reliable strategies and capabilities.