US, allies’ subs in S.China Sea could bring ‘nuke disaster’

USS Connecticut File photo: VCG

A senior Chinese expert on the maritime issue raised questions on the announcement the US 7th Fleet made about a US submarine collision in the South China Sea, as well as concerns over the increasing military presence of the US and its allies in the region, as they could bring more danger and accidents to the region, and would even cause a “nuclear disaster.”

Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for the South China Sea Studies (NISCSS), made comments in Beijing on Wednesday at a press briefing hosted by the NISCSS and China-Southeast Asia Research Center on the South China Sea (CSARC). The briefing introduced the Symposium on Global Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance 2021 that was held in Sanya, South China’s Hainan Province on November 9 and 10.

The “unknown object” the USS Connecticut nuclear-powered submarine collided with in the South China Sea in early October turned out to be an “uncharted seamount,” the US 7th Fleet announced on Monday. 

The US said the submarine “grounded on an uncharted seamount while operating in international waters,” but “how can a submarine collide with a seamount which is 2,000 to 3,000 meters underwater, while a submarine normally dives no deeper than 300 meters?” Wu asked at the press briefing. “The US delivered an ambiguous answer which cannot be justified,” Wu said. 

What Wu is really concerned about is the future of submarine operations in the region. “Let us imagine the protagonists of the incident on September 30, 2018 were two nuclear-powered submarines instead of Chinese destroyer Lanzhou and the USS destroyer Decatur, which had to maneuver to avoid a collision at a time of rising tensions between China and the US,” Wu noted. “That could be a catastrophe.”

As Australia could build nuclear-powered submarines using technology provided by the US under the AUKUS pact launched by the UK, the US and Australia the in September, there would be more submarines in the South China Sea, Wu said, noting the a code of conduct for submarines is urgently needed to avoid enormous nuclear disasters.