China’s snooping around Pacific undersea cables raises risks for Big Tech
US-owned trans-Pacific cables face growing risks from sabotage and China.
US-owned trans-Pacific cables face growing risks from sabotage and China.
The short version
- Subsea cable projects owned by US companies such as Google and Meta face some of the greatest risks from the threat of deep-sea sabotage in the Pacific Ocean, according to a new report.
- That coincides with Chinese research ships spending an extraordinary amount of time apparently surveying undersea cables—not to mention Chinese commercial ships being investigated for cutting cables in both European and Asian waters.
- The report was contracted to the London-based think tank China Strategic Risks Institute and published in September 2026.
What happened
The report authors created an interactive Trans-Pacific Cable Gray Zone Vulnerability Index that ranks the undersea cables considered most at risk and displays a map of their routes spanning the Pacific Ocean. Such an index could help identify which cables should get highest priority in terms of placing underwater sensors or setting up patrols to monitor for threats.
Why it matters
Risk factors used in the vulnerability index include the undersea depth of the cable routes, nearby shipping traffic, cable ownership, China’s exclusive economic zone and broader territorial claims , and whether each cable connects to Taiwan.
Summary by Nerd News Network. Read the full article at Ars Technica via the links above and below.