By Wan Muhammad Aslah Wan Razali
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 (Bernama) -- Disruptions to vital sea routes and undersea cables could threaten food supplies, energy security and internet connectivity far beyond the South China Sea, making stronger maritime cooperation increasingly important, diplomats warned today.
Canadian High Commissioner to Malaysia Jodi Robinson said maritime resilience required safeguarding an interconnected system of ports, shipping corridors and seabed networks, underpinned by respect for international law.
“But ultimately, resilience is not about protecting any single piece of infrastructure. It is about protecting the systems that connect us,” she said in a special address on the second day of the ninth MIMA South China Sea Conference 2026 here today.
Robinson warned that blockages of vital supply routes could have dire consequences for millions of people. She cited threats to energy security in the Strait of Hormuz and to food security linked to Black Sea grain shipments in major agricultural producing countries.
“Military or coast guard exercises to surround an island, so-called "anti-access/area denial or A2/AD” operations, are unacceptable. The international community cannot and will not stand idly by during such destabilising instances,” she said.
She said disputes capable of disrupting food and energy supplies had implications beyond the region, given the interconnected nature of the global economy.
Robinson also commended Malaysia’s cooperation with fellow littoral states in safeguarding navigation through the Strait of Malacca and its coordination of ASEAN-China negotiations on a draft code of conduct grounded in international law.
She reiterated Canada’s support for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and sustained dialogue to find lasting solutions.
Meanwhile, French Ambassador to Malaysia Marc Abensour said undersea infrastructure was a strategic concern for ASEAN, with subsea connections essential to completing the ASEAN Power Grid and undersea communication cables carrying more than 90 per cent of global internet traffic.
Speaking in a separate special address at the conference, he said between 150 and 200 cable incidents were recorded worldwide each year, most of them accidental, including those caused by vessel anchors or undersea landslides.
However, the possibility of deliberate action could no longer be ignored amid advances in deep-sea technologies and hybrid threats involving hostile state actions below the military threshold, he said.
Abensour said the global network’s ability to reroute traffic following cable failures did not eliminate the vulnerabilities of individual countries that relied on a handful of connections.
“Depending on a single route, a single supplier, or a single power is a vulnerability. Diversification is not about choosing sides; it is about keeping our options open,” he said.
He highlighted the SeaMeWe-6 cable linking Singapore to Marseille in France as an additional direct route between Malaysia and Europe that would strengthen connectivity and strategic autonomy.
Abensour also stressed the need for closer cooperation with industry, noting that fewer than 60 specialised cable vessels were available worldwide to lay, maintain and repair undersea cables.
Keeping this scarce resource available to respond quickly to incidents was decisive, he said.
He said France supports EU-ASEAN maritime security cooperation through information-sharing and maritime awareness initiatives that could help detect suspicious activity near undersea infrastructure.
A stable, predictable and secure operating environment, supported by respect for UNCLOS and freedom of navigation, was essential for the industry to carry out its work, he added.
Hosted by the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA), the two-day conference, held from Oct 13 to 14, gathers policymakers, diplomats, academic scholars and maritime security experts to examine regional cooperation, resilience and maritime legal frameworks.
-- BERNAMA