CHINA -SUBSEA INTERNET- CABLE : COMPREHENSION PRECIS

Singapore : China plans subsea internet cable to rival US-backed project.  This intensifying tech war between Beijing and Washington risks tearing the fabric of the internet.

Chinese state-owned telecom firms are developing $500 million undersea fiberoptic internet cable network that would link Asia, the Middle East and Europe to rival a similar US-backed project, four people involved in the deal told Reuters.

The plan is a sign that an intensifying tech war between Beijing and Washington risks tearing the fabric of the internet.

CHINA'S THREE MAIN carriers - China Telecommunications Corporation 

[China Telecom], China Mobile Limited and China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd [China Unicom] - are mapping out the one of the world's most advanced and far-reaching cable networks, according to the four people, who have direct knowledge of the plan.

Known as EMA [ Europe-Middle East- Asia ], the proposed cable would link Hong Kong to Chia's Island province of Hainan, before snaking its way Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and France, the four people said.

They asked not be named because they were not allowed to discuss potential trade secrets.

The cable, which would cost approximately $500 million to complete, would be manufactured and laid by China's HMN Technologies Co Ltd, a fast cable growing cable firm whose predecessor company was majority-owned by Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the people said.

They said HMN Tech, which is majority-owned by Shanghai-listed Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd, would receive subsidies from the Chinese state to build the cable.

China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, HMN Tech, and Hengtong did not respond to requests for comment.

The Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement to Reuters that it ''has always encouraged Chinese enterprises to carry out foreign investment and cooperation'' without commenting directly on the EMA project.

News of the planned cable comes in the wake of a Reuters report last month that revealed how the US government, concerned about Beijing eavesdropping on internet data, has successfully thwarted a number of Chinese undersea cable projects abroad over the past four years. [Reuters]