China Develops Military Technology to Further Its Aggressive Ambitions

Not only is Chairman Xi Jinping constantly pushing the People's Liberation Army (PLA) towards devotee levels of loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, but he is ensuring that China's military is equipped with all manner of weapons and gadgets to ensure dominance in both peacetime and wartime.

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The latest revelation concerns a deep-sea submersible-borne device that is designed to cut seabed communication cables. The news was broken by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper, which is regularly a mouthpiece for propaganda that China wishes to announce.

Undersea communication and internet cables are critical to globally connecting far-flung parts of the world. Russian and Chinese vessels have made a habit of damaging or severing such cables in places like the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan respectively. For example, Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration detained the Togolese-flagged cargo vessel Hong Tai 58 on 25 February, crewed by Chinese sailors, for allegedly damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan to the Penghu Islands near the Chinese coast.

This shadowy Hong Tai vessel has operated under various names and registrations, and it is suspected of deliberately tampering with the cable in aid of China's "gray zone" tactics of coercing and harassing Taiwan. Lin Jian, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said he was "unfamiliar with the incident" and unsurprisingly asserted that it was unrelated to Chinese actions.