I'm John Batchel. I welcome my colleague and friend Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang,

and we're going to the

bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea in the Pacific, in particular, the first island chain,

and the contest between the People's Republic of China's PLA Navy and the U.S. Navy and other assets

about the bottom of the sea.

Gordon and I welcome our colleague Rick Fisher to help us understand why and how,

and is this an advantage for the PLA Navy,

which is, at this point, I'm told by a colleague,

is not ready to match up against the U.S. Navy,

especially in anti-submarine warfare. Rick, a very good evening to you. This is Rick Fisher of

the International Assessment and Strategy Center. Mapping the floor. What does this say about war fighting

in the Pacific? What does it say about the Chinese concerns? Good evening to you.

Good evening, John. Good evening, Gordon. China's massive, long-term effort to survey the oceans,

map the ocean floors, which has been ongoing for decades, is simply the inner space aspect

of China's comprehensive drive for hegemony on Earth to extend to hegemony in space.

China is mapping the ocean's floor to prepare for submarine warfare.

About two weeks ago, the head of the Office of Naval Intelligence predicted that in a decade,

China could have as many submarines or have more submarines than the United States

and about as many nuclear-powered submarines as the United States.

And this is just the beginning.

Those submarines will be escorting many aircraft carrier battle groups.

And so China is basically on a global level preparing the battle space for its intention to

...