An increasingly contested space: the Pacific seabed and the actors reshaping it

The article identifies a critical strategic shift in Pacific maritime competition: seabed congestion from simultaneous military, infrastructure, resource, and commercial activity creates friction and collision risk that existing Australian maritime doctrine has not yet absorbed. Australia's AUKUS submarine fleet and maritime defence posture will operate in an increasingly dense underwater environment where cable networks, mining, and PLA operations intersect, requiring new operational planning frameworks and heightening the risk of incidents that could trigger escalation.