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Summary and Key Points: Naval mines remain a potent threat in modern warfare, with analysts concerned about China’s potential use in a Pacific conflict, particularly around the Taiwan Strait. The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has been conducting mine-laying drills in the South China Sea, showcasing its capabilities.

-China’s mine arsenal, developed since the Cold War, includes advanced variants that could endanger U.S. naval forces. However, Taiwan could also deploy mines as part of an asymmetric defense strategy to counter a Chinese invasion.

-The ongoing Russia-Ukraine War underscores the effectiveness of mines, making them a viable tool for both Beijing and Taipei.

China’s Mines: A Threat to the U.S. Navy? 

Mines are effective in controlling or denying access to areas of water or land, and mine warfare is a real threat to even the strongest world powers. 

Analysts are concerned with how the People’s Republic of China might use naval mines in a potential Pacific conflict. The People’s Liberation Army Navy could arrange strategic minefields around the Taiwan Strait, and these would certainly put the U.S. Navy’s submarines and warships in danger.

Analysts are right to speculate on Beijing’s potential use of naval mines, considering recent exercises the PLAN has carried out involving these weapons. The Chinese military has conducted mine-laying drills in the South China Sea since at least 2021. The Global Times reported that Beijing used its H-6J bomber to carry out an island-bombing exercise that involved the use of sea mines and explosive aerial bombs to destroy adversarial warships. 

The Defense Post at the time quoted a PLAN officer who said “The H-6J tested the accuracy and reliability of the military’s bombs and sea mines effectively,” adding that “the country would continue to pursue innovations in tactics and approaches, taking into account realistic enemy counterattacks.”

What We Know About China’s Mine Arsenal

During the Cold War, Chinese officials first put to use large moored mines known as Mao-1. The later Mao-2 mine is essentially a copy of a Soviet KSM mine. The first Chinese mine produced to incorporate acoustic fuze was the Mao-4. Fengxi Machinery Factory manufactured this weapon, which was ultimately accepted into service by the early 1970s. 

While China’s assortment of mines would pose a significant threat to U.S. naval forces around Taiwan if deployed, they are not the only military with these kinds of weapons. In fact, Taiwan could use mines to delay, disrupt, and degrade invading Chinese forces.

As explained by War on the Rocks, “Given that Taiwan cannot match China ship for ship, or missile for missile, strategists have called on Taipei to adopt an ‘asymmetric’ approach. Lee Hsi-min, a retired admiral and former chief of staff of Taiwan’s armed forces, for example, has developed an overall defense concept, which envisions employing numerous small and low-cost systems in a distributed way that can survive an initial bombardment and then conduct a protracted and effective resistance.”

As made evident by the Russia-Ukraine War, the age-old tactic of laying mines remains a highly lethal strategy in the modern era. Both Beijing and Taipei could take advantage of this relatively cheap and accessible gambit to achieve their respective war efforts in a kinetic conflict.

About the Author: Creative Commons 

Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.

All images are Creative Commons. 

Источник: nationalinterest.org