Kuala Lampur, Jan. 12 -- For much of the post-Cold War era, South-east Asian states operated on a comfortable axiom: sovereignty was secure so long as borders were respected and the region avoided the gravity of great power conflict. Hedging and non-alignment were the primary tools of the trade - practical, tactical mechanisms for navigating between giants, extracting concessions, and preserving a wide radius for manoeuvre. This was the era of the "Asean Way," where the sanctity of the map was the ultimate guarantor of political survival.

In recent years, however, that axiom has begun to erode. Territorial politics has not vanished, but it has undergone a profound mutation. Modern states now rely on a deep, invisible stack of infrastruct...