Undersea fiber-optic cables carry approximately 99 percent of global communications and underpin trillions of dollars in daily financial transactions, yet they remain vulnerable due to their commercially driven design and limited security oversight. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has integrated these systems into its Digital Silk Road strategy, using firms such as HMN Tech to expand control over global telecommunications infrastructure and data flows. Moreover, China’s legal framework, including its 2017 Cybersecurity Law, further enables state access to data managed by Chinese firms operating abroad. Overall, China’s undersea cable expansion is not merely economic, but a form of infrastructure statecraft designed to generate persistent access, strategic dependency, and intelligence advantage.
