China is preparing for war. The evidence is abundant, from building underground hospitals to hoarding grain and fuel, hardening air bases in the Pacific, and constructing a military command center ten times larger than the Pentagon.
For years, Beijing has been engaged in the largest military buildup in modern history. The Chinese Communist Party is girding for war with its sole competitor, the United States. Beijing seeks to supplant Washington as the world’s sole superpower, and it is willing to use every tool at its disposal, including deception, to achieve that objective.
China’s latest effort? Mapping the ocean floor to prepare for submarine warfare against the U.S.
According to a March 24 report by Reuters, China is “conducting a vast undersea mapping and monitoring operation across the Pacific, Indian, and Arctic oceans, building detailed knowledge of marine conditions that naval experts say would be crucial for waging submarine warfare against the United States and its allies.”
Among the areas being mapped by China’s submarines are critical maritime choke points. Chinese vessels have often claimed to be conducting “mud surveys” and “climate research.” But as Reuters noted, the ships are also engaging in extensive deep-sea mapping. Beijing is placing sensors and conducting research with the express purpose of “obtaining a picture of the subsea conditions [that] it would need to deploy its submarines more effectively and hunt down those of its adversaries.”
China’s decision to mask its intentions isn’t surprising. The CCP’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy enables Beijing to harness and exploit ostensibly nonmilitary applications for military purposes. In Communist China, everything belongs to the state, and the state will utilize everything to its advantage. In practice, this means that every bit of research conducted by a Chinese entity is subject to appropriation by the CCP.
Both this model and China’s ambitions make the CCP a formidable foe. Chinese President Xi Jinping has openly called for his People’s Liberation Army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. In recent years, several top U.S. military commanders have warned that Xi is on track to do precisely that.
Indeed, by some metrics, China now has the largest maritime force in the world, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. China, a June 2024 CSIS report warned, “has the numbers to absorb more losses than the United States and keep fighting.” Beijing has more than 230 times the shipbuilding capacity of the U.S., possessing newer ships and vastly more productive shipyards. This matters. This is what war in the modern age has often been about: the ability to outproduce your opponent, to have faster and more efficient maintenance cycles, and to dominate by sheer industrial scale and power.
Accordingly, the Trump administration has prioritized shipbuilding, recognizing the historic importance seapower plays in the fate of nations. In February 2026, the White House released a plan to “restore America’s maritime dominance.” That plan, among other things, seeks to “make American shipbuilding great again.” It is a laudable, albeit difficult, goal.
After years of disrepair and neglect, American naval power is starting off at a tremendous disadvantage, whether in the depths of the ocean or surface warfare. Urgency and investment are required to prevent Xi’s ambitions from reaching distant shores.
SEAN DURNS: HOW CHINA TURNED RED
The greatest danger lies in returning to the complacency that characterized previous years, when China amassed its capabilities as the U.S. military fecklessly and foolishly concerned itself with DEI and other initiatives that distracted and demoralized our warfighters.
China is probing, mapping, and planning. The U.S. can no longer afford to stay sitting.