![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/files.cnas.org/title/NationalSecurityLeadersWorry_HighStakes_Thumbnails-05.png)
March 24, 2024
National security leaders worry about U.S. failure to ratify Law of the Sea treaty
Thomas Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submarine warfare officer and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said being outside the treaty undercuts American credibility while China is laser-focused on building its maritime power. Shugart said China's deep sea miners have a second mission: collecting information for the Chinese military.
"If you're going to find submarines in the ocean, you need to know what the bottom looks like. You need to know what the temperature is. You need to know what the salinity is," Shugart said. "If China is using civilian vessels to sort of on the sly do those surveys, then that could improve their ability to find U.S. and allied submarines over time as they better understand that undersea environment."
Shugart also said China is flexing its maritime muscle by claiming the South China Sea as its private ocean.
The country has challenged the treaty's navigation laws that ensure safe passage by harassing passing ships, including the U.S. Navy. China has fired water cannons at its neighbors, caused collisions and even flashed a military-grade laser at ships.
Watch the full interview from CBS 60 Minutes.
More from CNAS
-
Swarms over the Strait
Executive Summary Drones have transformed battlefields in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Ukraine, but in a companion report, Evolution Not Revolution: Drone Warfare in Russia’s ...
By Stacie Pettyjohn, Hannah Dennis & Molly Campbell
-
Differentiating Innovation: From Performance Art to Production Scale
The Department of Defense has an innovation problem, and it’s not the one you are probably thinking about. Certainly, the Department needs to improve its ability to move with ...
By Andrew Metrick
-
The Pentagon Isn’t Buying Enough Ammo
Even in today’s constrained budget environment, the U.S. Defense Department needs to do more to prioritize munitions buys and prove it has learned the lessons of Ukraine....
By Stacie Pettyjohn & Hannah Dennis
-
Space to Grow
Executive Summary In the more than 50 years since the first satellite launch, space has become irrevocably intertwined with the American way of life and the American way of wa...
By Hannah Dennis