China builds undersea cable bases amid digital infrastructure rivalry

The two new bases will maintain optical fibre lines on the seabed that carry internet data, making them critical to economic and security interests

Beijing has been upping investment in digital infrastructure, partly because of pressure from the US over handling of internet traffic and potential for spying

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Maintaining undersea cables is important to ensure transmission of internet data. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:31pm, 12 Dec 2021Updated: 7:05pm, 12 Dec 2021

China is to build two bases to maintain undersea cables in the East China and South China seas as part of efforts to bolster its digital infrastructure, which has emerged as a new front in its geopolitical competition with the United States.

Under the government’s five-year plan for the information and communication industry, China is also seeking to build two more specialist ships for undersea cable maintenance in the next five years “to establish an internationally competitive capability in the construction and maintenance of submarine cables”.

The plan does not give details of the two bases’ operations, but says they will be located in the East China and South China seas.

In addition, plans are being drafted to build new submarine cables linking with North America and Europe, with the overall investment in digital infrastructure between 2021 and 2025 set to reach 3.7 trillion yuan (US$570 billion) – 1.2 trillion yuan more than in the previous five years – the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said last month.

On Wednesday, the government of the southern island of Hainan announced that construction of the South China Sea base would start before the end of the year in Sanya, at the southernmost tip of the island.

According to the province’s own five-year plan for digital infrastructure, the base will be capable of ensuring the safety of undersea cables in the South China Sea – in both offshore and distant waters – after it starts operating in 2023.