A 117-meter-long Chinese research and monitoring vessel spent 53 hours from October 30 to November 1 in a 29 nautical mile area over the SEA-H2X and EAC-C2C cable routes in the South China Sea. During this time, the vessel covered approximately 226 nautical miles at an average speed of 5 knots.
Details of the Vessel's Activity
The vessel changed course 39 times and made 12 short stops during this period. This activity was conducted in a recurring pattern while maintaining position, and the vessel was never in a drift state. During this time, the vessel was turned off for four hours on October 31, after which it resumed sending signals 13 nautical miles north of the location where it had stopped.
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Satellite images of the vessel on November 1 at 03:02 UTC show that the vessel is directly over the SEA-H2X route. The vessel returned to its port in Nansha, Guangzhou on November 3.
Analysis of the Vessel's Behavior
This vessel was also near the APG and SJC2 routes from October 24 to 26, remaining in an off state for 5 hours and then for 9 hours and 19 minutes. These two visits to the cable corridors over eight days appear to be a pattern rather than a coincidence. In all 230 recorded positions, the AIS navigation status of the vessel was recorded as moving under power and never showed the "restricted in maneuverability" status that research vessels display when using their equipment.
This vessel is recognized as a research vessel owned by a Chinese institution specializing in deep-sea robotics. This institution is listed among U.S. sanctioned entities due to its support for military applications.
The SEA-H2X cable is jointly owned by China Mobile, China Unicom, and Converge ICT, landing in China, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. In contrast, the EAC-C2C cable is solely owned by Telstra, landing in China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.
Reports indicate that China is developing cable cutters that can be pre-positioned on enemy cables. This highlights the significant importance of the recent activities of this vessel.
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