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‘Underwater Great Wall’: Chinese firm proposes building network of submarine detectors to boost nation’s defence

Move would also boost security in the contested waters of South China Sea, state shipping giant says

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A file picture of a PLA Navy submarine on patrol. Photo: Reuters

One of China’s biggest shipping conglomerates has proposed building a network of ship and subsurface sensors to detect US and Russian submarines and to boost the nation’s control of the South China Sea, a UK-based news website reported.

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The China State Shipbuilding Corporation, one of the country’s two largest shipbuilding state-owned enterprises, revealed details of what it called the “Underwater Great Wall Project” at a company booth at a public exhibition in China late last year, the news website of IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly reported. It is a British publishing company specialising in military, aerospace and transportation issues.

A translated description of the proposed technology was obtained by the news website from a government official, it said.

The “Underwater Great Wall” is the construction of a network of ship and subsurface sensors that could significantly erode the undersea warfare advantage held by US and Russian submarines and contribute greatly to future Chinese ability to control the South China Sea, the report said.

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If the system is built by the corporation it would probably be bought by the PLA Navy, the article said.

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