China has stepped up seabed mapping operations in waters east and south of Taiwan to improve its ability to seize the country, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Chinese research vessels are studying the seabed to aid Chinese submarines and underwater drones. They could be used to enforce a blockade or thwart U.S. intervention, said Brian Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Survey activity around Taiwan has increased since Japan and the Philippines announced plans in May to negotiate overlapping maritime boundaries in waters east of the country. The two countries have stepped up defense cooperation in response to Beijing's perceived threats.
“China is using the border talks as a pretext for something it probably intended to do anyway - to increase pressure on Taiwan,“ said Alan Zhang, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation.
“Beijing has long sought legal cover for its tactics in the “gray zone” - coercive actions that fall short of the use of deadly force -” "and research vessels fit very well into this model," Zhang added.
Su Chi-chie, an associate professor at the Institute of Oceanography at National Taiwan University, said: "They are launching research vessels at the speed of dropping dumplings into a boiling pot. It is extremely difficult for Taiwan to catch up with them at the moment."
Taiwan has only five vessels actively conducting its own marine research. In August, the country added two more vessels.
The president of the National Academy of Marine Research in Kaohsiung, Chen Chung-ling, said that Taiwan's research activities show the country's commitment to security, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“The more you understand the ocean, the more you can get from it,“ she said.
However, the director general of the Taiwan Institute of Ocean Research, Lao Te-yu, warned that Taiwan's research vessels are mainly focused on academic activities and their research does not always meet defense needs.
“We actually know very little about the waters around us,“ Lao said.
China also uses its research vessels to locate telecommunications cables, which would be another potential target in a possible conflict, the report said. analysts quoted by the „Wall Street Journal“.
„They are trying to understand what the underwater infrastructure looks like because they probably want to have the ability to disrupt Taiwan's external communications if they can as part of a coercion campaign“, Clark said.
„The Wall Street Journal“ cited a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies that said China-linked research vessels spent „a disproportionate amount of observed time near critical infrastructure compared to research vessels from 47 other countries“.