Defending Pascagoula: Why China Has No Place in Mississippi’s Gulf Waters
By Hank Zuber
Every morning, more than 11,000 Mississippians pass through the gates of Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula. They are master welders, pipefitters, electricians, and engineers building the backbone of the U.S. Navy.
From Jackson County, these skilled workers construct Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, America-class amphibious assault ships, and San Antonio-class transport docks. Ingalls is also the sole builder of the Navy’s San Antonio-class fleet and the Coast Guard’s Legend-class National Security Cutters.
While our fellow Mississippians pour their sweat into building the fleet that keeps America safe, the Chinese Communist Party is actively trying to infiltrate the waters right off our coast.
As Chairman John Moolenaar recently highlighted in Congress, Chinese-connected technology acts as “rolling data collection devices” and a national security threat on our roads. That same logic applies directly to our waters: when Chinese-linked vessels operate near critical defense infrastructure, they gain dangerous opportunities to observe, track, and gather intelligence.
For Mississippi, this raises an urgent question: What happens when vessels linked to a Chinese state-owned enterprise operate in the very Gulf waters surrounding one of America’s most vital shipyards?
The answer demands immediate scrutiny. China’s state-owned Weichai Group has recently solidified its operational control over Italy’s Ferretti Group, securing leadership oversight over one of the world’s premier shipbuilders.
Under China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, every Chinese firm must turn over data to Beijing’s security services upon request. Allowing vessels tied to a Chinese state conglomerate to navigate the exact Gulf waters where our Navy warships are built and launched creates a dangerous backdoor to harvest real-time intelligence on our shipping corridors, naval transit routes, and harbor depths. That is an unacceptable risk to South Mississippi.
The solution is straightforward. The Department of Defense must immediately designate Weichai Group as a Chinese military company under Section 1260H of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Placing Weichai on the 1260H list subjects its operations to strict supply chain scrutiny and sends a clear message to Beijing that our maritime infrastructure is off-limits.
Leaders in Congress, like Senator Jim Banks, have already taken a stand by pushing for this designation. Mississippi’s congressional delegation should champion this effort on behalf of the Coast.
This comes down to protecting the workforce and infrastructure that form the backbone of America’s national defense. Our shipbuilders do their part every day to keep this country safe. They deserve to know the waters around their shipyard are guarded with the same seriousness as the ships they build.
Mississippians have spent generations forging America’s maritime strength. It is time we safeguard the waters where that strength is built.
