An invisible fight on the ocean floor is bubbling to the surface in a competition pitting China against the U.S. for control of the undersea cables that prop up global communication and commerce.
Undersea cables carpeting the ocean floor carry 95–99 per cent of intercontinental communications and data transfers and support an estimated US$10 trillion worth of financial transactions every day, rendering them vulnerable to espionage and sabotage. Governments also rely on these cables, which transmit data up to 10 times faster than satellites, to send classified information.
In February, a retired U.S. Navy admiral wrote that undersea cables — despite being the “backbone” of the global economy — were “a glaring global vulnerability,” and warned of impending “seabed warfare.”
Cable outages can be devastating: in mid-June, three of Vietnam's five undersea internet cables — linking the country to Asia, Europe, and the U.S. — went down for reasons unknown, “significantly affecting the country’s connection with the world,” according to state media.
A number of cable lines rest under disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Spratly Islands, which are variously claimed by China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Washington has reportedly discouraged American companies from laying new lines in that area, while a recent Reuters investigation reported that, over the past four years, the U.S. government has acted to stall or stop at least six undersea-cable deals in the Asia Pacific. Beijing has retaliated by withholding permits for new projects from American contractors.
China’s ocean floor ambitions
China established its first international undersea cable in 1993, and after decades of trial and error, is now charging towards self-sufficiency in installing and maintaining undersea cables.
From 2008 to 2020, China-based Huawei Marine Networks (later rebranded to HMN Technologies) installed 60,000 kilometres of undersea cables. Additionally, according to Nikkei, more than 20 cables involving Chinese companies “have come or are scheduled to go online in the Asia Pacific between 2021 and 2026.”
China reportedly owns around nine of the 60 ships worldwide that are capable of laying and maintaining undersea cables. Two of the 60 ships list a Canadian port, Halifax, N.S., as their ‘base port,’ while five claim U.S. ports as their home base.
The Great Wired North?
The Canadian Arctic will soon be home to an expansive network of undersea cables. The Far North Fiber project, scheduled for completion by late 2026, is a proposed 15,000-kilometre-long cable linking Norway to Japan through the Northwest Passage.
Ottawa will be expected to safeguard these undersea cables from natural disasters, shipping accidents, and even attacks.
