Reuters-US backs Pacific undersea internet cable amid China competition
September 28, 2023 3 min 489 words
这则报道揭示了美国在太平洋地区与中国的竞争中采取的一项重要举措。美国支持新的太平洋海底互联网电缆项目，这一举措旨在增强美国在该地区的影响力。中央太平洋电缆将连接美属萨摩亚和关岛这两个美国领土，并延伸至多达12个太平洋岛国。这个项目的重要性不仅在于加强通信基础设施，还因为关岛是美国军事基地所在地，具有战略意义。 这一计划的细节在新加坡的一个行业会议上展示，由两位经验丰富的海底电缆顾问Paul McCann和John Hibbard领导开发。美国电信咨询公司APTelecom正在进行可行性研究。这一举措进一步显示了美国对该地区的关注，尽管有关方面拒绝置评。 新的电缆将连接美国领土与巴布亚新几内亚、萨摩亚、图瓦卢、斐济、瑙鲁、马绍尔群岛、基里巴斯、库克群岛、瓦利斯和富图纳以及密克罗尼西亚联邦等国家。该计划称，项目的进一步资金可能来自世界银行以及美国、澳大利亚和新西兰等国的援助机构。 需要指出的是，海底互联网电缆通常需要3-5年的时间来开发和安装，而这个计划的电缆将延伸数千公里。白宫发布的一份声明确认，美国贸易与发展署将为该电缆提供300万美元的可行性研究资金。 这将是连接图瓦卢这个拥有大约11,000人口的小国的第一条海底电缆。正如今年早些时候路透社的一项调查所报道的，海底光纤电缆，占据了跨大洲互联网流量的99%，已经成为美国与中国之间竞争的关键领域。 太平洋岛国在互联网基础设施方面存在脆弱性，去年汤加因火山爆发和海啸切断了其唯一的海底电缆，导致其与全球电信网络隔离了一个月。 去年，担心中国试图进行“经济胁迫”，拜登政府承诺帮助太平洋岛国抵御中国的企图。中国去年与所罗门群岛签署了一项安全协议，引发了该地区军事化的担忧。路透社报道，两年前，美国干预阻止了一家中国公司在太平洋岛国建设另一条海底互联网电缆的计划。 今年，美国、澳大利亚和日本同意支付并重新启动了那个项目，被称为“东密克罗尼西亚电缆”。它将连接瑙鲁、基里巴斯和密克罗尼西亚等岛国。 总之，这个计划反映了美国在太平洋地区加强影响力的努力，特别是在与中国的竞争中。它强调了太平洋岛国在地缘政治和战略上的重要性，以及互联网基础设施对于国际竞争的关键性作用。
The United States is backing a new undersea internet cable connecting several Pacific islands, according to a plan for the project seen by Reuters, boosting Washington's interests in a region where it is vying for influence with China.
The Central Pacific Cable would connect American Samoa with Guam - two U.S. territories - and extend to up to 12 more Pacific islands, according to a document showing the cable route. Guam is home to a key U.S. military base.
Details of the cable were displayed at an industry conference in Singapore by the developers, Paul McCann and John Hibbard, two veteran subsea cable consultants. APTelecom, a U.S.-based telecoms consultancy, is carrying out the feasibility study. APTelecom, Hibbard and McCann declined to comment.
The new cable could connect the U.S. territories with Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Cook Islands, Wallis and Futuna and the Federated States of Micronesia, the plan showed.
Further funding for the project would most likely come from multilateral donors such as the World Bank and aid agencies in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the plan said.
Undersea internet cables typically take at least 3-5 years to be developed and installed. The proposed cable would stretch thousands of kilometres.
A White House fact sheet released on Monday after a meeting between Pacific Island leaders and President Joe Biden in Washington confirmed the U.S. Trade and Development Agency would fund a $3 million feasibility study for the cable. The statement didn't state the countries involved.
This would be the first undersea cable connecting Tuvalu, a tiny nation of about 11,000 people, the USTDA said in a post on its Facebook page.
Undersea fibre-optic cables, which criss-cross the ocean floor and transmit 99% of transcontinental internet traffic, have become a key arena of competition between the U.S. and China, as reported in a Reuters investigation in March.
The Pacific islands, which form a vast arc to the north of U.S. ally Australia, are strategically important for U.S. naval movements and are home to valuable minerals and fisheries.
Island nations in the Pacific have vulnerable internet infrastructure. Tonga was cut off from global telecommunication networks for a month last year after a volcanic eruption and tsunami severed its only undersea cable.
Last year, the Biden administration pledged to help Pacific islanders fend off China's attempts at "economic coercion". Beijing signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands last year, prompting fears of a militarization of the region.
Washington intervened two years ago to block a Chinese company from building another subsea internet cable in the Pacific islands, Reuters reported at the time.
The United States, Australia and Japan this year agreed to pay for and revive that project, known as the East Micronesia Cable. It will connect the Island nations of Nauru, Kiribati and Micronesia.