A U.S. major colonel proposed spending 15 billion dollars to purchase Russia's Komandorski Islands to monitor Chinese submarines.

Major General of the US Army suggests: Purchase the Russian Komandorski Islands to better monitor Chinese submarines!

Recently, Major General Jeffrey Fritz of the US Army Security Command stationed in Estonia suggested that the US purchase the Komandorski Islands from Russia for 1.5 billion dollars, claiming that this move would better track "potential activities of Chinese submarines heading to the Arctic."

Alexei Chepa, first vice-chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, responded directly: "This is complete nonsense. Russia does not trade land." The Komandorski Islands are located near the Bering Strait, being the westernmost part of the Aleutian Islands, only 200 kilometers away from the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, and just 300 kilometers from the nearest American island. This archipelago, covering a total area of 1,848 square kilometers, happens to be at the critical point for Chinese and Russian submarines entering the Arctic shipping routes.

The Arctic region is becoming an emerging strategic passage due to melting glaciers. In recent years, China has actively expanded its presence in this area, causing concerns among the US military about insufficient submarine monitoring capabilities. The US attempts to revive the "Integrated Underwater Surveillance System" from the Cold War era, renaming the monitoring station in Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, as the "Theater Undersea Surveillance Command." This system successfully tracked Soviet nuclear submarines before the 1980s, but later became ineffective as the Soviet Union obtained related technical intelligence and reduced submarine noise levels.

The 2022 US Department of Defense "Global Military Power Report" acknowledged that China has the largest navy in the world and is building more advanced, quieter, and harder-to-detect nuclear submarines. The noise level of China's new generation of conventional submarines is far lower than that of Soviet nuclear submarines, increasing the difficulty of detection. Purchasing the Komandorski Islands reflects the anxiety of the United States, but Russian MP Mironov sarcastically proposed "buying back Alaska," exposing the absurd nature of the US proposal.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839038733274184/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.