US proposes marine cables to spy on mainland
(Gang Bian)
06/02/2001
Taiwan military and administration are reviewing a US proposal to jointly build an underwater surveillance system to eavesdrop on fleets of the Chinese mainland, China News Service (CNS) reported yesterday.An evaluation team of the US Navy recommended last year that Taiwan lay two under-water cable lines, one starting from the island's Northeast point and the other from the South point, to monitor the activities of Chinese fleets in the East China Sea and South China Sea. The island military studied the plan but postponed it because of cost. However, local government is more willing to co-operate with the United States to lay the cables because the project could make the military and political ties between Taiwan and the United States stronger. Therefore, the plan now is waiting for further discussion. If Taiwan accepts the proposal, the United States will complete a surveillance system capable of watching the Chinese mainland from outer space to the bottom of sea. China News Service observed that it goes without saying that the United States is attempting to block the Chinese mainland as it did the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, and Taiwan is at the frontier of the US defence line. As early as 1989, the United States made a similar proposal, offering technical assistance to Taiwan to construct a 10-kilometre under-water cable. But the project failed because of insufficient budget and technological problems.
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