A Chinese military commentator has called on the PLA to target US subsea cables in response to US Navy operations in the South China Sea.
A column on ifeng.com, one of China’s most popular news sites, says China should attach explosives to “core US military and business cables” to drive the US out of Asia.
The writer, who goes by the name of Liu Chang, said China should follow the example of Russia. whose spy ships have become active near US subsea assets, according to a recent New York Times report.
This highlighted the significance to the US "of the humble submarine cable," the writer says.
Facing the US intrusion into China sovereignty in the South China Sea, China could also reference the Russian approach. Whether it’s Russia on this occasion or China in the future tapping or damaging the US cables, none of this in any way makes the US a victim.
This is because of a number of alleged incidents of US submarines tapping into Chinese cables, beginning "early in the Cold War," Liu claims. It's worth noting that US submarine installed a surveillance device on a cable until the Halibut in the Sea of Okhotsk in 1971. Liu suggests that US participation in the search for the missing MH370 jet in 2014 was also aimed at surveilling China's submarine cable systems.
The writer adds that while it would be “certainly good” to acquire intelligence by monitoring a US cable, "the major task is to detect US core or military use cable locations."
Through the use of navy submarines [China can] release miniature underwater vehicles (UVs) ... to install explosive devices. When needed, this can deliver a devastating blow to US cables.
Liu doesn’t offer advice on how to differentiate “US” cables from those carrying Chinese traffic, or Japanese or Singapore traffic for that matter, and is equally unaware that the US has no military subsea cables in the west Pacific.
It is easy to dismiss him as a Chinese version of the kind of uber-hawks that make up the Fox News commentary team, but ifeng is a hugely popular portal, the website for the successful Phoenix TV channel, and Liu Chang and his unchallenged disinformation reflect some widely-held assumptions about China and its entitlements.