Irresponsible US submarine exercises threaten South China Sea health and safety
- The USS Connecticut incident is the latest in a number of accidents involving nuclear-powered subs
- An incident that releases radiation could destroy fisheries which provide essential food stocks, something Asean and other regional states should consider
“US demands details of Chinese nuclear sub accident off California” screamed the headline. No, that has not happened – not yet. But just imagine the US reaction if it did.
The public would immediately want to know if there was any radiation leakage from the reactor or its nuclear weapons, if it was carrying them. What caused the accident? Where did it happen? What was it doing there in the first place?
The vessel eventually returned to Guam under its own power. The USS Connecticut is one of only three Seawolf-class submarines designed to hunt the best Soviet submarines near the end of the Cold War. They can operate in shallow water and could carry nuclear weapons.
This episode was not the epitome of transparency in defence matters that the United States often demands of China. The delay and the vagueness of the announcement raise many questions.
Foreign vessels exercising their rights in a country’s EEZ must have “due regard” for the rights and duties of the coastal state, as well as for the interests of other states exercising their high seas freedoms. That means they should not violate the country’s laws, provided they are compatible with Unclos, nor should they endanger its environment and living resources, or present a hazard to other vessels.
“It’s irresponsible and displays a lack of transparency on the part of the US to deliberately delay and conceal the details of the accident.”
The US has denied it was covering up the accident. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, “It’s an odd way of covering something up when you put out a press release about it.” But Kirby’s response just made China more suspicious.
This is not the first accident involving a US nuclear-powered submarine. On January 8, 2005, the Los Angeles-class USS San Francisco struck a seamount near the Caroline Islands that did not appear on the charts the crew were using to navigate without active sonar. The submarine was operating at maximum speed at a depth of 160 metres.
Most subs have both active and passive sonar. Active sonar sends out acoustic pulses, or “pings”. The ping will reflect back if it hits an object, but subs operating in stealth mode turn off their active sonar because the ping could give away their location. The USS San Francisco was almost lost, because the forward ballast tanks and sonar dome were severely damaged.
Even more problematic is that the South China Sea is a difficult operating environment for submarines. It is particularly “noisy” and has rather complex and shifting topography.
One accident that releases nuclear radiation could damage the marine food supply for all littoral countries, through aversion to eating it if nothing else. Although the radiation might be insignificant or rapidly decrease to safe levels, the reputational damage to the fisheries would last much longer.
Such an accident would be a nightmare for the region. The US and others should reconsider exercises in the South China Sea, especially those that require them to run stealthily at full speed. Coastal countries in the region have legitimate cause for concern.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and related meetings take place from October 26 to 28 in Brunei, followed by the East Asia Summit in November. The participants might wish to address this issue.
Mark J. Valencia is an adjunct senior scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, Haikou, China