Opinion | The US-China Tech Cold War Is Moving Undersea

Updated: Oct 26, 2026 13:19 pm IST Published On Oct 26, 2026 13:19 pm IST Last Updated On Oct 26, 2026 13:19 pm IST

Published On Oct 26, 2026 13:19 pm IST

Last Updated On Oct 26, 2026 13:19 pm IST

When Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles described the seabed as a battlefield at a regional defense gathering in Singapore earlier this year, he was preaching to the converted. The security of undersea cables - which carry more than 95% of data flows and trillions of dollars of daily financial transactions - was already top of mind for the senior military brass, geopolitical analysts and government ministers in the room. 

A new project by Australia, the UK and the US was quickly announced to develop underwater drone technology to protect cables by 2027, while Singapore launched a 17-country framework covering Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania to explore defense cooperation on critical infrastructure. 

But while nations are racing to defend existing networks, the companies building Southeast Asia's digital architecture face a different challenge: avoiding maritime bottlenecks and the risk posed by China's expanding sea presence. The Strait of Malacca, the narrow passage between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, is particularly vulnerable due to the sheer concentration of cables traversing the corridor. 

Already considered the Indo-Pacific's most critical chokepoint - it handles about 21% of global maritime trade by value - the Strait is increasingly being bypassed by major........

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