A COMMUNIQUE from the G7 states carries no legal weight, and in a world where allegiances and promises can change with the wind, any action is purely hypothetical. But the latest statement on maritime security and prosperity should be considered required reading. It is effectively a contemporary risk list of the major tipping points in global security.

In the run up to its drafting there were various spats behind the scenes, notably including a US attempt to delete reference to the shadow fleet, lest it may offend Moscow and tarnish the Ukraine peace negotiations.

Whatever diplomatic arm wrestling contest was lost behind closed doors, it seems that rather than deleting the competing list of national concerns, everyone has listed everything. Consequentially, the G7 communique offers an instructive and comprehensive to do list of western maritime security priorities, albeit one with no discernible list of corresponding solutions or action points.

Shadow fleet safety concerns? Check. Vessel spoofing? Check. Fake flags and undersea cable attacks, Houthi attacks? Check, check, check.

Much of it is exactly what it purports to be — a symbolic show of unity over threats affecting all states. To that end the language is laced with entirely supportable commitments towards a “secure maritime domain based on the rule of law” that each of the signatories is ignoring whenever it suits them.

Much of it, however, is politicised sabre-rattling that exposes the fault lines around which shipping is currently sailing.

The condemnation of China’s “illicit, provocative, coercive and dangerous actions” threatening freedom of navigation and maritime safety, predictably enough did not go down well in Beijing.

Even by China’s generally overheated diplomatic language standards, the response that followed was unusually vitriolic, accusing the G7 members of being “filled with arrogance, prejudice and malicious intentions”. Given EU and US proposals to halt ships at sea it is surprising they didn’t include hypocritical for good measure.

Then there was the thinly veiled US entry into the risk list warning that the ownership and management of strategic waterways and key maritime choke points should not be left vulnerable to “undue influence by potential adversaries”.

The fact the EU is currently equally concerned about China’s control over strategic European port infrastructure is too often missed in the bid to make America the protectionist boogeyman right now.

Over 2,500 words the G7 states have drafted a punchy list of issues keeping foreign ministers awake at night from “curtailing unsafe and illicit shipping practices” to “protecting freedom of trade”.

But beyond “inviting” the Baltic states (“and possibly others”) to join a “shadow fleet task force” with no clear mandate or plan, this is a list of problems, not solutions.

“Robust co-operation” and various references to “dialogues” is as far as the drafting governments managed to get on offering a way forward.

Richard Meade
Editor-in-chief, Lloyd’s List

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