On this episode of China Uncensored,
if you’re looking for Xi,
you better check under the sea.
Because that is where you’ll find…
um, him.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
China is building an underwater sea platform
in the South China Sea.
Which is a terrible idea.
Didn’t they watch The Abyss?
Or Leviathan?
Or DeepStar Six?
Or the Evil Below,
or the Lords of the Deep?
Well, there sure were a lot of underwater
alien creature horror movies
made in 1989.
I'm sure that was just a coincidence.
But back to China's underwater sea platform.
It could be a bad idea
for a non-alien related reason, too.
This underwater platform
will be in disputed territory
in the South China Sea—
a region claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam,
the Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia.
Besides the 5 trillion dollars a year in shipping
that goes through the region,
many scientists believe it could be
home to untold wealth in natural resources,
like oil and natural gas.
Someone should really explore that.
Oh, right.
So China is planning to build
an underwater observation network,
at a cost of roughly 290 million US Dollars.
It will be done as a partnership
with Tongji University in Shanghai.
According to my favorite Chinese
state-run media, The Global Times,
it will be used to “probe the undersea physical,
chemical, and geological dynamics”.
Well, that sounds peaceful enough.
Oh, and it “will also be used
for other purposes”.
Wait, what other purposes?
Is there something state-run media
maybe left out?
Voice of America,
help us out here.
“It could collect data for military intelligence,
undersea mineral gathering
or seabed oil drilling.”
So, “other purposes” are possibly
helping China’s military,
and giving China the info it needs to plan
underwater resource extraction
worth potentially billions of dollars.
Funny that The Global Times
left that part out.
This whole underwater operation
will take about 5 years to build.
So what will it look like?
Well this image from an official handout
published by South China Morning Post shows...
...I guess the undersea platform...
...a robot with a purple beret…
...these yellow things are...probes?
...a microwave—
I guess you need somewhere
to heat up your Hot Pockets...
...a giant torpedo-looking thing
that’s probably,
totally not a torpedo…
...and here of course
is the deep sea abyss
that will open up to reveal
the eldritch abomination,
the nameless nightmare
that will haunt our dreams
and consume our world...
Just kidding.
I'm sure this is all safe and fine
and totally peaceful.
As state-run media
have said again and again,
Beijing values peace
in the South China Sea.
But Beijing also values
its territorial claims
in the South China Sea.
And just as important as the research
from this observation platform
is the fact that simply having a research station
would strengthen China’s claims
to the region.
The 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
states that a nation controls underwater scientific research
within its exclusive economic zone,
which is 200 nautical miles
off its coast.
Euan Graham of the Lowy Institute
for International Policy in Sydney
told Voice of America that,
“if a scientific operation is happening,
that lends it a significant air of legitimacy”
to territorial claims.
And of course,
the research itself could also be helpful
to China’s military,
because any data collected
could be used for both civilian
and military purposes.
And if you have doubts that the military
has anything to do with it—
you know,
because it’s being done in conjunction
with a university—
just remember the artificial islands
in disputed waters.
These artificial islands.
The ones that probably have
weapons on them.
Now you might be wondering—
since this is in the South China Sea—
what about China's other territorial waters?
Well don’t worry,
because China may also be building
something like this
in the East China Sea.
So maybe someday soon,
there’ll be no more pesky questions
about disputed territory with Japan, either.
So what do you think of China’s
underwater platform?
And how should we defeat the coming evil
from the deeps?
Leave your comments below.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.
Once again I’m your host, Chris Chappell.
See you next time.