U.S. Fears Undersea Cables Are Vulnerable to Espionage From Chinese Repair Ships

WASHINGTON—U.S. officials are privately delivering an unusual warning to telecommunications companies: Undersea cables that ferry internet traffic across the Pacific Ocean could be vulnerable to tampering by Chinese repair ships.

State Department officials said a state-controlled Chinese company that helps repair international cables, S.B. Submarine Systems, appeared to be hiding its vessels’ locations from radio and satellite tracking services, which the officials and others said defied easy explanation.

The warnings highlight an overlooked security risk to undersea fiber-optic cables, according to these officials: Silicon Valley giants, such as Google and Meta Platforms, partially own many cables and are investing in more. But they rely on specialized construction and repair companies, including some with foreign ownership that U.S. officials fear could endanger the security of commercial and military data.

The Biden administration’s focus on the repair ships is part of a wide-ranging effort to address China’s maritime activities in the western Pacific. Beijing has taken steps in recent decades to counter U.S. military power in the region, often by seeking ways to stymie the Pentagon’s communications and other technological advantages in case of a clash over Taiwan or another flashpoint, officials say.

U.S. officials have told companies, including Google and Meta, about their concerns that Chinese companies could threaten the security of U.S.-owned cables, a person familiar with the briefings said. In some cases, the conversations have included discussion of Shanghai-based S.B. Submarine Systems, the person said.

Senior Biden administration officials have also received briefings in recent months about the risks posed by Chinese companies, including SBSS, working on repairs to undersea cables, according to the person.

The security of undersea cables “is rooted in the ability of trusted entities to build, maintain, and repair” them “in a transparent and safe manner,” the National Security Council said in a statement, noting that satellite ship tracking “is one such measure that supports vessel monitoring and safety.”

The administration declined to comment on SBSS. Google and Meta declined to comment about the Biden administration’s concerns related to SBSS. SBSS didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The gaps in the company’s ship-location data could be explained by spotty satellite coverage rather than as an effort to hide their positions, according to another person who is familiar with the company. The cable owners often have representatives aboard repair ships at sea, which would make any potential meddling with cable gear hard to hide, the person added.

The vessels—named the Fu Hai, Fu Tai, and Bold Maverick—periodically disappeared from satellite ship-tracking services, sometimes for days at a time, while operating off Taiwan, Indonesia and other coastal locations in Asia, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of shipping data.

The data gaps were unusual for commercial cable ships and lacked clear explanation, the officials and industry experts said.

Hundreds of thousands of miles of underwater fiber-optic cables carry almost all the world’s international internet traffic. Dozens of lines lace the Pacific Ocean floor, shuttling data between the Americas, Asia and many island chains.

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