Shangri-La Dialogue drama: The vital issues that deserve a bigger spotlight

Superpower verbal slugfests grab headlines but the work of middle powers in addressing matters like subsea cable security is vital for security.

- Bhavan Jaipragas

At the Shangri-La Dialogue, some tell-tale signs from the cramped media centre give away what will be the main story. When keyboard clattering intensifies and people crowd around screens, you know the alerts are going to fly. But when the nattering pipes up, you know there's little interest in whatever is emerging from the sideline sessions.

News veterans of this security summit know the drill and the headlines were predictable. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's barbs aimed at China fired off the main round of headlines. Then hours later, with high-level Chinese representation absent, the remarks of Beijing's delegation leader, Rear-Admiral Hu Gangfeng, in a plenary session provided the next round.

But this predictable theatre doesn't give a full picture of what goes on at the dialogue. Beyond the US-Chinese exchanges that grab headlines, there was considerable discourse on matters that didn't excite global media but remain absolutely vital for global security.

These rare public discussions on the dogsbody work of conflict prevention - rule-setting, addressing emerging threats related to the likes of undersea cable security, nuclear proliferation in space and AI-controlled weapons systems - matter far more than the ritual slanging matches between superpowers, though the Shangri-La Dialogue has long provided that safety valve too.

What conflict deterrence in this new era actually demands is what the sociologist Max Weber famously called "the strong and slow boring of hard boards". His phrase, in describing the essence of politics, is just as applicable to the painstaking work of building common consensus on rules and customary international law.

Who's actually interested in this work? The Singapore forum provided a glimpse of the answer: likeminded middle powers, host nation Singapore included, alongside close partners like Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands.