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Australia's defense‑funded report hypes risks to subsea cables to 'serve military goals'_我的网站

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Illustration: Liu Rui/GTA new report funded by Australia's Department of Defense played up security risks to submarine cables in the Indo-Pacific waters and pointed finger at China and some other countries over alleged undersea‑cable attacks in recent years, while claiming threats against subsea cables are growing. A Chinese expert said that accusing China without conclusive evidence constitutes "over‑securitization" made by Australian side, as well as a calculated pretext for its own military expansion.
Published by the National Security College at the Australian National University (ANU), the paper claimed recent damage to cables in the Baltic Sea and around China's Taiwan region suggests "state actors are now actively probing and testing cable infrastructure in peacetime as part of broader hybrid warfare strategies" to rapidly degrade connectivity at the outset of a conflict, The Australian reported.
The paper claimed 16 privately owned subsea cables that carry 99 percent of Australia's internet traffic are a "high priority target" for Australia's adversaries that could be severed in a conflict, threatening the nation's economy and social fabric, according to The Australian.
The report singled out China and Russia for blame, saying that there have been multiple apparent attacks on submarine cables in recent years in European waters as well as near China's Taiwan region, suspected to be linked to Russia and China, the Straits Times reported.
However, the report cites a 2025 voyage by Chinese research vessel Tan Suo Yi Hao along Australia's western and southern coastlines as evidence to back its claim that "potential adversaries are actively gathering information about Australia's cable infrastructure."
This report, relying on the routine scientific operations of a Chinese research vessel in 2025 to level allegations of offensive actions against China, and employing ambiguous terminology such as "suspected" and "potential," demonstrates Australia's evidentiary leap, Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center of East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday.
This erroneous claim was refuted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry at the time. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on March 31, 2025 that China carries out normal activities at sea in accordance with international law, including UNCLOS.
"We hope Australia will have a right understanding of this and stop the groundless suspicion and speculations," Guo added.
This is not the first time certain Australian politicians has leveled baseless accusations of China intending to sabotage its undersea cables. Back in May, Defense Minister Richard Marles claimed during the Shangri-La Dialogue that China ought to boost transparency around its maritime operations. He also asserted that a surge in damage to subsea cables had transformed the seabed into a "battlefield," per The Australian.
Chen said Australian side's scaremongering is tied to its predictive threat‑perception framework forged in recent years. This framework designates China and other countries as strategic competitors in advance, subsequently forces routine scientific activities into a confrontational framework, Chen said.
Apart from unfounded allegations against China, the paper claims Australia's defense military "must incorporate the defense of submarine cable infrastructure into its operational planning," according to The Australian.
It added the government should also consider up¬grading an auxiliary ship operated by the navy, ADV Guidance, to enable it to repair damaged cables.
The vast majority of submarine cable damages are caused by accidental factors such as fishing operations and vessel anchoring, rather than deliberate sabotage. For suspected cases of intentional damage, independent technical investigation bodies should be established, and the principle of "investigate first, characterize later" should be strictly applied, so as to prevent ordinary maritime accidents from escalating into diplomatic conflicts, Chen said.
The core problem of Australian side's submarine cable security lies entirely with itself. Instead of addressing its own infrastructure shortcomings and improving its domestic protection and maintenance systems, the Australian side has chosen to continually exaggerate external threats and stoke bloc confrontation, the expert added.
Chen said that by fabricating alleged Chinese threats, Australian side seeks to "rationalize" its military spending increases and underwater force expansion. The submarine digital infrastructure originally meant to serve global development has been labeled along us versus them lines, and this constitutes the biggest hidden danger, he added.
。 Chinese research icebreaker Xuelong 2 arrives at the domestic base dock of China's polar expeditions in Waigaoqiao, Shanghai, on May 18, 2026. The vessel successfully completed all tasks of China's 42nd Antarctic expedition mission before returning to Shanghai. Photo: VCG

Chinese research icebreaker Xuelong 2 arrives at the domestic base dock of China's polar expeditions in Waigaoqiao, Shanghai, on May 18, 2026. The vessel successfully completed all tasks of China's 42nd Antarctic expedition mission before returning to Shanghai. Photo: VCGChina's research icebreaker Xuelong 2 began its first ice station survey of its current voyage near 84 degrees north latitude in the central Arctic Ocean on Sunday, marking the start of an approximately half-month comprehensive survey of the region.
After completing the first stage of comprehensive ocean station surveys on Friday, Xuelong 2 sailed toward higher latitudes and selected a large, relatively flat piece of sea ice about 1.5 meters thick in a densely packed ice zone for its first ice station.
According to Lin Long, captain of the Xuelong 2 sea ice team, the ice station survey conducted by the vessel during this voyage will include six short-term ice stations and one long-term ice station, the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.
More than 20 types of scientific operations will be carried out, including the deployment of expendable ice-based buoys, snow and ice-core sampling, under-ice water sampling, sea-ice remote sensing, atmospheric profiling and under-ice oceanographic observations.
Lan Musheng, assistant to the chief scientist of the expedition, said the researchers will comprehensively monitor changes in parameters related to the atmosphere, sea ice, upper ocean and ecological processes beneath the ice as the sea ice melts.
The observations will provide scientific data for studying the rapid changes in Arctic sea ice, the mechanisms behind those changes and the evolution of Arctic ecosystems.
The ice station work is part of China's 16th Arctic Ocean scientific expedition, which was organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The expedition set sail from Dalian, Northeast China's Liaoning Province on July 3.
The mission is being carried out by four vessels - Xuelong, Xuelong 2, Jidi and Tansuo-3 - and is expected to be completed in early October.
The expedition is focusing on comprehensive surveys of sea ice, hydrology, biology, ecology and the atmospheric environment in key areas of the Arctic Ocean.
The two icebreakers Xuelong and Xuelong 2 will work together on the ice station surveys. Xuelong completed surveys at 12 ice stations on Friday.
Lin said the ice station locations planned for Xuelong 2 will work in coordination with those of Xuelong to form an observation array.
The arrangement will allow researchers to more deeply investigate the interactions among the atmosphere, sea ice and ocean in the central Arctic Ocean amid rapid environmental changes, as well as their coupling effects with the ecosystem.
The expedition is being conducted against a backdrop of rapid changes in the Arctic environment.
When the mission was launched in July, expedition leader Wang Jinhui said that global warming was driving rapid and profound changes in the Arctic natural environment, with trends such as sea-ice melting intensifying.
The expedition is therefore designed not only to monitor environmental changes but also to investigate frontier scientific questions, including the dynamic evolution of the oceanic crust.
Working on sea ice also presents significant safety challenges. Low temperatures and complex ice-surface conditions can pose risks to researchers, while polar bears are considered the biggest safety risk during ice station operations.
The expedition team has therefore formulated specific bear-prevention and emergency response plans and equipped personnel with various types of bear-deterrence equipment and emergency supplies to ensure their safety.
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