< IMG LOADING = "Lazy" SRSC = "/Sites/Default/Files/Styles/Medium/2025-03/Sanka%20vidanagama%20Afp.jpeg ? Itok = SVK8SY6W" Width = "1300" Height = "731" IMG-Fluid Image-Style-Max-1300x1300 "SRC ="/Sites/Default/Files/Styles/Max_1300x1300/Public/2025-03/Sanka%20vidanagama%20afp.jpeg ? Itok = oglymdjk "/62 > 62 > 62 > Vidanagama/AFP < P > The underwater cables become a new strategic battlefield and Beijing takes a step in this hybrid war, which is played out as well on computer networks as in the depths of the oceans. Beijing revealed to have a robot capable of cutting underwater cables in the seabed. The information was made public by a Hong Kong media, the South China Morning Post, which explains that China would be the only world world to have this machine, which can reach installations up to four kilometers of depth. & Amp; nbsp; nbsp;
< P > 62 > 62 > 62 > 62 > 62 ~ 62The dynamics pass to a higher level. If the United States, Russia and China are already considered the patterns of the war of the underwater cables, this “cable cutter” can quickly upset the balances. As in many areas, the United States, which are trying to hinder Chinese efforts to gain ground, maintain a dominant position. Admittedly, a large part of the global network is dominated by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), a French company which holds 41% of the market and representing an asset for the West. & Amp; nbsp; & nbsp;
< p >< Strong > up to 4 km from Depth < Strong > & nbsp;
< P >But ASN shares the global network with the American company Subcom and the Japanese giant NEC dominating this world market. In addition, 80% of the flow passed through the United States. In his efforts to counter Beijing, Washington massively supports Taiwan, a territory that China claims, which dominates the semiconductor market and which represents, with 14 cables, four aired stations and two important data centers, a major hub in the Pacific. & Amp; nbsp; & nbsp; < P >Despite American efforts to limit its influence, China, through companies like HMN (formerly Huawei Marine Networks), seeks to extend its presence in the deployment of submarine cables. To land and sea silk roads, Beijing has been expanding its project to digital since 2015 through underwater cables. The objective of China, which currently weighs only 10% of the global market on the existing or planned network, is to dominate 60% of the global optical fiber cable market, targeting in particular emerging economies. & Amp; nbsp; nbsp;< p > but this robot seems to be more positioned as a dissuasion tool strategic, even hybrid war rather than a way to win on the world cable market. The revelations last weekend of the South China Morning Post, which relayed a specialized magazine last February, intervene in a geopolitical context marked by operations of sabotage of telecommunications, as in the Baltic Sea or in the Strait of Taiwan, attributed to Russia or China. & Amp; nbsp; & nbsp;
< P >This submersible, which is small to refer to plans and images disseminated by the Hong Kong media, is made of titanium. It is an articulated arm with a circular saw of barely 15 cm diameter, capable of withstanding the pressure of the seabed, up to 4,000 meters. A immersion twice deeper as that to which the underwater cables are anchored. & Amp; nbsp; nbsp;< P >< Strong > a threat or a deterrent tool ?< Strong > & nbsp;
< P > hooked to Bathyscaphes that equip the Chinese Navy, with the most important submersible fleets, machine, according to the experiences carried out so far, “can cut reinforced cables over a diameter of 60 millimeters with a success rate of 100%”. It is especially suitable for tactics of “gray areas” and “hybrid war”, allowing sabotage actions while maintaining a plausible denial. & Amp; nbsp; nbsp;< P >According to the South China Morning Post, this is the first time that a country has communicated on such a device. The newspaper even wonders about this exception made at Chinese discretion on its arsenals, particularly those that can target the “strategic nodes” in the Pacific, which connect a dozen cables used by the American military forces as well as by Google or Meta. & Amp; nbsp; & nbsp;
> P ~ 62 engineers of this robot deviate from the Chinese ambition to dominate the market of underwater cables ? while demonstrating its advanced underwater technologies, this tool could just as well allow China to bypass the obstacles encountered in the deployment of its own underwater cables, starting with American efforts to limit Chinese influence in this sector. & nbsp;
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