Fake news has been spread on the mainland internet in graphic detail that a U.S. nuclear submarine that was monitoring the aircraft carrier Liaoning in the South China Sea was locked on by the 054A anti-submarine frigate in the formation and the U.S. nuclear submarine was forced to surface and flee. The incident was mainly aimed at the U.S. sending Biden’s friend Todd to lead a delegation to Taiwan. (Photo/Xinhua News Agency)
The recent visit of U.S. President Joe Biden to Taiwan with a delegation led by his friend Christopher Dodd has caused a huge backlash from the mainland government and media. The U.S. nuclear submarine was forced to float and then fled.
The source said that such incidents will not be confirmed by Chinese and American officials, but satellite images and other evidence are conclusive. This kind of unverifiable news spread on the Internet, because the event is concerned, the network media use it to gather popularity, the general public can also be used to vent their anger against the United States.
Former U.S. Senator Dowd, whom Biden called his “best friend,” visited Taiwan on the afternoon of the 14th, while Biden’s climate change envoy, John Kerry, also arrived in Shanghai on the same day in the evening to start his visit. These two are Biden’s first high-level representatives to the mainland and Taiwan, and their identities, levels and tasks are different, but it is the first time since Biden took office to send authorized representatives to both sides of the Taiwan Strait, which has important implications for U.S. foreign and China policy. However, this practice has angered Beijing, the same day the mainland Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched an offensive, severe condemnation of the U.S. side, and even after Todd arrived in Taiwan on the 14th, announced a live-fire exercise in the sea off Shantou, Guangdong Province, and the waters around Dalian in the Bohai Sea were also designated as a no navigation zone for military missions, and the mainland media even unanimously criticized Todd’s visit to Taiwan.
The picture shows the frigate of the mainland aircraft carrier Liaoning, which is currently undergoing exercises in the South China Sea, including one 055 missile destroyer, two 052D destroyers and one 054A destroyer. (Photo / Xinhua News Agency file photo)
The satellite image circulating on the Internet also shows the Liaoning aircraft carrier and its frigates, as well as the U.S. nuclear submarine, which are being drilled in the South China Sea, but the source of the satellite image is not stated. (Photo/Internet)
The image circulated on the Internet shows the U.S. nuclear submarine (left) surfacing 7 kilometers from the Liaoning aircraft carrier under the interception of the Chinese 054A frigate (right) and using an S-shaped evasive course, but in the end the U.S. nuclear submarine was still forced to surface and flee. (Photo/Internet)
While the mainland was criticizing Todd’s visit to Taiwan, the Internet was abuzz with rumors that the Liaoning aircraft carrier formation, which was conducting military exercises in Philippine waters south of Taiwan, had a close encounter with a U.S. nuclear submarine on the 14th day of Todd’s visit to Taiwan. The much-posted message said that according to information obtained by radio enthusiasts and military satellite images, the 054A guided-missile frigate belonging to the Liaoning carrier battle group, which was conducting military exercises in the South China Sea, “captured” a U.S. Virginia-class nuclear submarine and forced it to surface off China’s coast. The Internet rumor has it that the Communist military’s move was a threatening move in response to Todd’s visit to Taiwan at 3 p.m. on the 14th, as a “big gift” for Biden’s climate envoy, Kerry, to visit China on the same day.
Todd’s visit to Taiwan has caused outrage on the mainland, and the U.S. Navy’s Virginia-class nuclear submarine has become the object of netizens’ anger. (Photo / U.S. Navy)
The news pointed out that the U.S. nuclear submarine, intercepted by the 054A frigate, surfaced 7 kilometers from the Liaoning aircraft carrier and used an S-shaped evasive course, and because there was no radio underwater to indicate its identity and friendly hostility, the U.S. nuclear submarine was forced to float up to exercise “innocent passage” or risk being attacked, so that “never float.” Another source said that two U.S. nuclear submarines were “captured” this time, one being the latest Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine and the other being an Ohio-class strategic ballistic missile nuclear submarine. Of course, none of this can be officially confirmed.
Such internet rumors seem to be flawed for professionals, as warships are not free to attack other warships on the high seas, and submarine surfacing for “innocent passage” is only done in foreign territorial waters or ports, and is flagged. A warship attacking a foreign ship in non-territorial waters can cause a major military crisis between the two countries, and a South Korean warship has irradiated Japanese military aircraft with fire-control radar, triggering serious protests in Japan and a wave of diplomatic conflict that lasted for months. This time, several satellite images of unknown origin were uploaded online and interpreted like a chess game, which is a common practice for general internet content farms.
The Liaoning aircraft carrier formation crossed the Miyako Strait early this month and went south to the waters around Taiwan for a drill. The picture shows a file photo of the Liaoning formation. (Photo/Xinhua News Agency)
There are many such online news and articles on the mainland, most of which are crude and unpleasant, appealing only to readers with nationalist passions, but also to some uninformed readers who believe them to be true. For example, in 2018, there was an online article saying, “U.S. submarine following Liaoning in South China Sea was surrounded by several Chinese warships! Forced to float and then flee in panic”, the article was accompanied by a large number of military pictures and even made into a Youtube video for people to click through, the plot was similar to this, only with less satellite pictures.
Interestingly, this kind of submarine encounter with an aircraft carrier followed by surfacing has actually happened in the real world of US-China interaction. The Washington Post reported in November 2006 that the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier was in the waters off Okinawa, Japan in October when a Chinese Communist Navy 039A Song-class conventional submarine approached and surfaced within missile and torpedo range, a distance of about 5 nautical miles, and the submarine was later spotted by a reconnaissance aircraft sent by the U.S. military.
The U.S. media reported that the decommissioned U.S. aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (pictured) was accidentally surfaced in October 2006 when it came into contact with a Chinese Communist Song-class conventional submarine within torpedo range. Mainland experts said that the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier “was a big surprise. (Photo/US Navy)
The U.S. Pacific Command declined to comment on the matter at the time, and the revelation came as Admiral Gary Roughead, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was visiting Beijing. When the mainland media quoted this report that year, they also invited Zhang Zhaozhong, a well-known mainland military expert, to comment on it, saying that when the Chinese Communist Party’s submarine surfaced back then, it “scared the U.S. aircraft carrier half to death.
Recent Comments