Report: Chinese scientists have dabbled in undersea cable-cutting tech

BERLIN — Chinese scientists have been researching ways to cut undersea cables since at least the late 2000s, according to a recent report in the U.S. magazine Newsweek. The revelation comes amid a series of events in which undersea infrastructure in geopolitically tense regions was damaged under unclear circumstances.

Reporters at Newsweek uncovered two patent applications Chinese researchers filed for towed undersea cable-cutting devices and associated methods to inflict such damage.

The patent applications, which the magazine reported were both ultimately dropped for unknown reasons, show devices shaped similarly to anchors that are meant to be dragged along the ocean floor to dig up and sever undersea cables.

There is a striking similarity to recent events of purported sabotage of undersea cables by ostensibly civilian vessels dragging their anchors along the seabed. This happened in the Baltic Sea, severing communications and data transfer cables. It has also recently occurred close to Taiwan. The island, which has governed itself ever since the Chinese Civil War, is claimed by Beijing as part of China. President Xi Jinping has made it clear that annexation – or reunification, as Beijing calls it – is a central policy of his term.

Policymakers and experts have called these incidents acts of “hybrid warfare” and sabotage.

The more recent of the two patent applications was developed in 2020 by a group of engineers from Lishui University. The institution is located in Zhejiang province, just across the strait from Taiwan. The invention was filed as a “dragging type submarine cable cutting device.” Newsweek quoted the document’s authors as saying that “with the development of science and technology, more and more submarine cables and communication cables are laid on the seabed of all parts of the world and the cables need to be cut off in some emergency situations.”

The magazine also discovered an application from a coastal research institution in the south of China from 2009 for a similar device. That application referenced the need to be able to counteract “illegal” cables off Chinese shores, a purported use case that experts dismissed as being highly unlikely.

In response to the story, the Chinese embassy in D.C. told Newsweek that “the Chinese government had always welcomed and supported other countries and telecommunications companies laying international submarine cables in waters under China’s jurisdiction.” The spokesperson said China would “continue to work with the international community to actively promote the construction of global information infrastructure such as submarine cables, jointly protect submarine cables, and work together to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace.”

As a knock-on effect of the global geopolitical instability precipitated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, undersea infrastructure has become an area of focus and concern. In the Baltic Sea, countries are stepping up countermeasures after Chinese-owned ships operating out of Russian ports were involved in several incidents where pipelines and cables were damaged by dragged anchors.

It is unclear to what extent the Chinese government was involved in recent cable-cutting incidents involving apparently civilian ships in the Baltic Sea. In at least one of the incidents, the Chinese government has publicly called the event an “accident.”

Experts have also voiced concern that as part of Beijing’s pressure tactics surrounding Taiwan, attacks on undersea infrastructure could be used as a gray-zone, hybrid-warfare tactic.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——据美国《新闻周刊》近期报道，中国科学家至少从2000年代末就开始研究切断海底电缆的方法。这一消息披露之际，正值一系列发生在政治局势紧张地区的海底基础设施在不明情况下遭到破坏的事件发生之时。

《新闻周刊》的记者发现，中国研究人员为拖曳式海底电缆切割装置及造成此类破坏的相关方法提交了两项专利申请。

据该杂志报道，这两项专利申请最终都因不明原因被撤回。申请文件显示，这些装置的形状类似于锚，旨在沿着海底拖拽，以挖出并切断海底电缆。

这与近期发生的几起疑似民用船只拖锚破坏海底电缆的事件有着惊人的相似之处。此类事件发生在波罗的海，导致通信和数据传输电缆中断。最近，类似事件也发生在台湾附近。自中国内战以来一直实行自治的台湾，被北京声称是中国的一部分。习近平主席已明确表示，吞并——或者如北京所称的“统一”——是他任期内的核心政策。

政策制定者和专家将这些事件称为“混合战争”和破坏行为。

两项专利申请中，较新的一项是由丽水大学的一组工程师于2020年开发的。丽水大学位于浙江省，与台湾隔海相望。该发明被申请为“拖曳式海底电缆切割装置”。《新闻周刊》援引该文件作者的话说：“随着科技的发展，世界各地海底铺设的海底电缆和通信电缆越来越多，在某些紧急情况下需要切断这些电缆。”

该杂志还发现，中国南方一家沿海研究机构在2009年提交了一份类似设备的申请。该申请提到需要能够应对中国近海的“非法”海底电缆，但专家认为这种用途极不可能。

针对这篇报道，中国驻华盛顿大使馆告诉《新闻周刊》，“中国政府一贯欢迎和支持其他国家和电信公司在中国管辖水域铺设国际海底光缆。”发言人表示，中国将“继续与国际社会一道，积极推动海底光缆等全球信息基础设施建设，共同保护海底光缆，携手构建网络空间命运共同体。”

俄罗斯入侵乌克兰引发的全球地缘政治动荡，导致海底基础设施成为关注焦点。在波罗的海，一些从俄罗斯港口出发的中国船只发生多起因锚链拖拽而损坏管道和电缆的事件后，各国纷纷加强应对措施。

目前尚不清楚中国政府在多大程度上参与了近期发生在波罗的海、涉及疑似民用船只的电缆剪断事件。至少在其中一起事件中，中国政府公开称之为“意外事故”。

专家们也表示担忧，作为北京对台湾施压策略的一部分，攻击海底基础设施可能被用作灰色地带的混合战争策略。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。