Is Beijing preparing for submarine action with maritime survey east of Taiwan?

US military experts warn that oceanographic surveys like the Xiang Yang Hong 22 mission should be regarded as ‘inherently dual-use’ Routine oceanographic surveys collect information on seawater temperature, salinity, currents and seabed topography – data that is indispensable for marine science. Yet that same information could also improve underwater acoustic models used in submarine operations, anti-submarine warfare and the planning of undersea infrastructure such as cables and pipelines, they pointed out. According to James Holmes, a maritime strategist at the US Naval War College, such missions should be viewed as inherently dual-use. He noted that similar surveys years ago by the United States generated friction with Chinese vessels in the South China Sea. “Water is a complex medium for submarine and anti-submarine operations,” he said. “Variations in pressure, temperature and salinity tend to refract sound and layers can form beneath which submarines can hide.”

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