Photo/Illutration An undersea cable on the seabed is critical infrastructure underpinning a global internet network. (Provided by NTT Group)

Japan is belatedly addressing an issue described as critically urgent: how to protect undersea cables used for internet traffic from sabotage and eavesdropping.

But the effort so far is seen as half-hearted.

Such cables account for 99 percent of international communications traffic, transmitting everything from cat pictures on social media to financial transactions, military orders and national security secrets.

The history of undersea cables reflects the dominant global power of the times. China’s recent rise in power and its military ambitions have put many countries on edge concerning the cables.

The Japanese government has recognized the strategically important nature of submarine cables, and it has finally moved to help NEC Corp., a leading supplier in the global subsea cable industry, But the support is limited, and the company continues to essentially defend itself on its own.

One episode epitomizing the growing importance of subsea cables was a visit to NEC headquarters in Tokyo by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on July 29 last year after attending the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee meeting involving foreign and defense chiefs.

Blinken showed up at the NEC building as bomb-sniffing dogs and secret agents heavily guarded the area.

The event surprised even Japanese security experts because NEC wasn’t known for having cutting-edge defense technology.

The purpose of Blinken’s visit was not announced. But analysts believe it was to inspect NEC’s undersea cables.

In the company’s showroom, Blinken stopped at a cable exhibition and talked with NEC President Takayuki Morita.

After the tour, Blinken, referring to the company’s submarine cables, called NEC a “trusted vendor.”

Blinken’s gesture is believed to have been a dig at “untrusted vendors” around the world, particularly Beijing.

Smartphones transmit data wirelessly with a base station.

But beyond that, transcontinental submarine cables on ocean floors are the super-fast conduit for the ever-increasing volume of data. They are faster and more reliable than satellite networks.

Today, about 450 subsea cables stretch for about 1.4 million kilometers in total around the globe.

BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY

The history of cables has revolved around struggles for supremacy over information.

In the latter half of the 19th century, around 70 percent of the world’s submarine cables were controlled by the British empire.

Britain dominated the world by censoring, suspending and altering telegraphs of other nations transmitted through their cables.

U.S. historian Daniel Headrick described the vast network of undersea cables as “the tools of empire,” likening them to overreaching tentacles.

NEC is one of the world’s three biggest undersea cable manufacturers, along with U.S. company Subcom LLC and France’s Alcatel Submarine Networks Inc.

The three represent 90 percent of the global share.

But the dynamics of the industry could change in the years ahead as a business affiliated with China’s Huawei Technologies Co. has entered the fray.

The United States, which replaced Britian as the cable “empire,” fears data transfers through submarine cables could be leaked to China as the two powers seek to gain an edge in the war over technologies.

China, eyeing the creation of a vast economic zone under its “Belt and Road Initiative,” is believed to be pushing a project to build a web of Chinese-made cables across the world.

The country is also trying to sell, as a set, newly constructed cable landing stations and 5G smartphones. With this technology, China could introduce its WeChat messaging app and its cashless payment system in client countries.

Washington has been alarmed by the move because it believes China plans to expand its cyberspace capabilities for surveillance.

In response, the United States in 2020 started its Clean Network program to prevent Chinese business involvement in telecom carriers, mobile app stores, apps, cloud computing and undersea cables to protect U.S. telecommunications and technology infrastructure.

The U.S. government blocked multiple projects due to concerns about Chinese eavesdropping.

One of them was a program for U.S. technology giants to run fiber-optic cables linking Hong Kong and the United States. A Chinese company was involved in the now-scrapped plan.

Other Western countries are also stressing the importance of protecting submarine cables from “untrusted” suppliers.

But Japan has long been complacent on the issue.

FEARS OF CHINESE TAKEOVER

The country’s only manufacturer of submarine cables is OCC Corp., which NEC turned into its subsidiary in 2008.

OCC is known for producing cables that can withstand enormous water pressure and have a 25-year durability.

Its plant in Kita-Kyushu is effectively on the front line of guarding Japan’s national and economic security.

OCC’s predecessor was established in 1935 at the government’s request. Its telegraph and telephone cables were used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.

The original company expanded as the telecommunications industry grew.

But OCC went belly up in 2004, saddled with debts from excessive capital investment.

OCC sought to rehabilitate itself with assistance from the Industrial Revitalization Corp. of Japan, the now-defunct government-affiliated company set up to help struggling companies.

But an investment fund bought OCC two years later.

After another two years, a business moved to acquire OCC, according to multiple sources.

It was Huawei.

Back then, Morita of NEC was in charge of corporate acquisitions.

He recalled being advised by colleagues in NEC’s maritime-related business that Huawei should be prevented from taking over the Japanese company.

Morita was already distrustful of Chinese companies following suspicions that NEC’s facial recognition technology was leaked to the Chinese side.

NEC entered the undersea communications cable industry in 1964, building related equipment and laying cables. But it did not manufacture the cables.

Concerned about how a Chinese takeover of OCC could affect the industry, Morita, leaning toward NEC’s acquisition of the cable maker, asked several government officials for assistance. But few officials showed interest.

NEC eventually acquired OCC and made it a group company.

Fifteen years later, in December 2023, Japan’s telecommunications ministry issued a decree to specify subsea cables as vital infrastructure.

It obliged relevant businesses to report to the telecommunications minister any suspicious event concerning the cables.

Politicians have also started to act.

Sanae Takaichi, state minister in charge of economic security, underlined the urgency of safeguarding the cables in a speech during the Liberal Democratic Party’s presidential race in September last year.

“It would be a big disaster if Japan’s subsea cables were severed by a country of concern and the internet were shut down,” she said.

During Takaichi’s visit to Okinawa Prefecture in the summer, an LDP member of the prefectural assembly told her about the vulnerability of a submarine cable off the coast.

“The cable can be seen clearly since the water is so clear here,” the assembly member told her.

Undersea cables are usually buried 1 to 3 meters under the sea bottom in shallow waters near the coast.

On Takaichi’s orders, the government carried out a fact-finding survey and found the cable in the prefecture was exposed at two locations.

RISKY CABLE ARRANGEMENT

Japan’s submarine cables are heavily concentrated in two areas: off Minami-Boso city in Chiba Prefecture close to Tokyo Bay; and off Mie Prefecture’s Shima city in central Japan.

The government is now attempting to disperse cables from the two areas to other coasts to prevent widespread disruptions in internet services due to severed cables and other failures in the concentrated locations.

Japan also needs to address the paucity of cable-laying vessels.

Among the world’s largest subsea cable developers, NEC is the only company that currently does not own cable vessels.

The only Japanese companies that own such ships are Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. and KDDI Corp., two of the nation’s largest telecommunications carriers.

Japan, South Korea and China have cooperated on the use of cable vessels for projects to place cables in waters near Japan.

But such an arrangement is increasingly seen as risky.

Defense experts warn that China’s vessels could conduct a topographic survey under the name of repairing undersea cables around Japan and use the results to choose routes for its submarines.

The Japanese government allocated funds in the supplementary budget for fiscal 2022 to conduct a study on drawing up assistance measures for Japanese companies to own cable ships.

But the telecommunications ministry is not eager to reach that end.

“There are not many things that the government can do,” a senior ministry official said. “Besides, things would not work out if the government intervenes and leads.”

Citing past cases, the official explained that since bureaucrats are not well-versed in business management, government-led projects often fail to generate the intended result despite spending a huge sum of subsidies.

Morita lamented the lack of government backing.

“We are the only one fighting with no support” in the global competition, he said.

The French government announced in June that it will nationalize Alcatel Submarine Networks.

China provides large subsidies to its state-owned companies, including carriers.

NO AUTOMATION

While the telecommunications industry rapidly advanced over the last few decades, manufacturing undersea cables and storing them still require much manual work, sometimes under brutal conditions.

The OCC’s plant in Kita-Kyushu is too vast to be kept cool with air conditioning alone. Plant workers toil in clothing embedded with cooling devices while large fans spin in the plant to make up for the poor air conditioning.

Cables for one project usually take a year or two to complete. And almost all stages in the process require human engagement.

One step is loading cable on a rotating tank for storage. Four workers each take six-hour shifts for the around-the-clock delicate job.

Each worker must slowly walk backward carrying the cable and, relying on their sense of feel, slightly twist it to ensure no gaps will be left during the spooling process.

The step is crucial in terms of loading the maximum amount of cable onto a ship and ensuring a smooth unspooling during the laying process.

Although many industrial machinery companies have taken on projects to automate the cable storage process, none has been successful.

So far, OCC workers have built about 400,000 km of subsea cables, the equivalent of circling the globe 10 times.

(This article was written by Kanako Tanaka and Takeshi Narabe.)