Research
New HCSS–RSIS Report: Strengthening Protection of Critical Undersea Infrastructure in Europe and Asia
The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) have released a joint report, Response and Resilience: Government Strategies for Securing Subsea Infrastructure in Europe and Asia, authored by Benedetta Girardi and Sean Tan. The study compares the threat environments and policy responses of the Netherlands and Singapore—two highly connected economies whose prosperity depends on secure and resilient critical undersea infrastructure (CUI), including internet cables, energy pipelines, and power interconnectors. The report presents the results of a workshop held on October 30, 2025 in Singapore and organised in cooperation with The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Singapore.
Key Findings
The report identifies three principal threat vectors to underwater infrastructure:
• Grey-zone activities such as covert sabotage, cable tampering, and incursions by state-linked vessels.
• Military activities, including physical attacks, cyber interference, and intelligence-gathering aimed at seabed systems.
• Accidental damage caused mainly by fishing, anchoring, and operational errors—still the leading source of cable failures worldwide.
Both countries face similar challenges in legal ambiguity, gaps in monitoring and attribution, high defence and repair costs, and fragmented policy coordination across public–private actors and international jurisdictions.
Recommendations
To strengthen resilience and deterrence, the report highlights four priority areas:
- Closing legal and normative gaps, including clarifying permissible defensive measures and improving civil liability frameworks.
- Enhancing monitoring, detection, and attribution, especially through sensor networks, autonomous systems, and cooperative surveillance.
- Reducing defensibility and cost asymmetries by investing in redundancy, rapid-repair capacity, and dual-use technologies.
- Deepening public-private and international coordination, including EU, NATO, ASEAN, and cross-regional exchanges.
The authors propose a shared Singapore–Netherlands agenda focused on adaptive governance, knowledge exchange, and coordinated capability development.
Benedetta Girardi emphasises:
“As hybrid threats expand and attribution becomes harder, no state can protect undersea infrastructure alone. Building resilience requires not only better technology, but also smarter governance and deeper cooperation between governments, industry, and like-minded partners.”
Authors: Benedetta Girardi and Sean Tan
Quality Assurance: Tim Sweijs and Benjamin Ang
Partner Institutions: The report is the result of a collaboration between HCSS in cooperation with RSIS and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Singapore.
The research for and production of this report has been conducted within the PROGRESS research framework agreement. Responsibility for the contents and for the opinions expressed, rests solely with the authors and does not constitute, nor should be construed as, an endorsement by the Netherlands Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence.
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