It's not clear from the stories I've read, but if the Chicoms are placing submarine traps on the high seas - outside their internationally recognized 12 mile limit - and one snags a British or American sub, that would be an act of war. Considering that they claim the whole of the South China Sea - right up to the coastlines of Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia - I wouldn't put it past them. Unless they've bought even more US (and British) officials the way they've bought Biden, things in that case could really spiral out of their control.