US Navy Commander Floats Alarming Plan On China: Mine Yellow Sea, Pearl River Delta

The U.S. can bring Beijing to the negotiation table by mining the Yellow Sea and Pearl River Delta in the event of a conflict between the two superpowers, a U.S. Navy commander has noted. Mining these two key waterways would strike the Chinese economy, he added.

Commander Victor Duenow made these observations in an article published by the U.S. Naval Institute this month. According to the naval expert, possible future conflict scenarios between the United States and an "increasingly aggressive and capable" China will leave the former at a disadvantage.

Mines are cheap and effective weapons that can help the U.S. buy time and space for a counterattack in the event of Beijing launching a conflict through surprise and deception, Duenow said. The commander's essay reportedly won the first prize in the naval mine warfare essay contest sponsored by the Mine Warfare Association.

"If the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) had free use of its naval facilities during a conflict with the United States, China would be better able to attain and sustain sea control. Mining Chinese waters would exploit China’s relative weakness in mine countermeasures, challenge and deter PLAN activity, and disrupt logistics support for PLAN offensive operations," noted Duenow, who is experienced in airborne mine countermeasures.

Though China has mine countermeasures platforms, its equipment is outdated, limited and focused on mine countermeasures in the nearshore and port environments. This would leave China vulnerable, he added.

He added that mining the Pearl River Delta and the Yellow Sea would also disrupt China’s economy by interrupting the flow of Chinese trade goods and oil imports. "Finding a way to bring China into diplomatic negotiations on favorable terms to the United States is the goal, and offensive mine warfare can help achieve it. Mines complicate China’s military problem, placing PLAN forces at risk. The United States can also dispute Chinese sea control while preparing for a counteroffensive," he added.

However, many think the tactic would infuriate China further. According to Beijing-based naval analyst Li Jie, mining the waterway will trigger a response from the PLA than force China to the negotiating table.

"The PLAN will stage a comprehensive minesweeper campaign by blocking waterways in the region. If Washington wants to push Beijing into a corner, it might push the PLA to take tit-for-tat action by laying naval mines in some waterways used by American vessels," Li told South China Morning Post.

Collin Koh, a research fellow with the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, also thinks the act will be escalatory. "Assuming naval mining is done in the window of tension that precedes the possible outbreak of conflict, such a known act will of course be inflammatory and escalatory, but it may also help to cool heads and compel the other party to reconsider his options," he told the news outlet.