Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles pointed out the vulnerability of critical digital infrastructure, noting that 99% of Australia's internet traffic relies on just 15 subsea cables that could be severed at any time.
“When the rules apply, smaller states have agencies. When the rules yield to power, sovereignty becomes — as others have put it — the purview of the powerful,” said Marles.
Echoing those concerns, Qatar's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs, Sheikh Al Thani, warned against using international waterways as a tool of political pressure, noting that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen by 90% amid the regional crisis.
“It is easy to take freedom of navigation at sea for granted, yet the prosperity of nations, the flow of global trade and the flow of the world economy all depend upon it," Qatar's Deputy PM said, "Qatar firmly rejects the use of international waterways as a tool for political pressure. If we allow such an example to be set, then what we have seen in the Strait of Hormuz can happen in the Indo-Pacific or elsewhere.”
Participants called for closer cooperation among nations and greater use of artificial intelligence and satellite technology to help protect maritime security and uphold the rule of law at sea.
