China’s latest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank earlier this year, a senior US defense official said on Thursday, a potential embarrassment for Beijing as it seeks to expand its military capabilities.
China already has the world’s largest navy, with more than 370 ships, and has begun production of a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines.
China’s new first-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank near a pier sometime between May and June, a senior US defense official said on condition of anonymity.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said he had no information to provide.
“We are not familiar with the situation you described and have no information to provide at this time,” the Chinese official said.
The official said it was not clear what caused it to sink or whether it was carrying nuclear fuel at the time.
“Apart from the obvious questions about training standards and equipment quality, this incident raises deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry – which has long been plagued by corruption,” the official said. the Salvation Army.
“It is not surprising that the PLA Navy would try to conceal the sinking,” the official said.
Speaking in Taipei on Friday, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Kuo said officials “have an understanding of the situation through multiple intelligence and surveillance methods”, but he did not elaborate.
Taiwan, which China considers its territory, keeps a close eye on Taiwan’s military activities. In June, photos of a Chinese nuclear submarine in the Taiwan Strait near Taiwan fishermen surfaced online.
The news of the Chinese submarine was first published by the Wall Street Journal.
A series of Planet Labs satellite images from June show cranes at the Wuchang Shipyard, where the submarine would have been docked.
According to a Pentagon report on China’s military, by 2022, China had six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 48 diesel-powered attack submarines. The US Department of Defense has said the submarine force is expected to grow to 65 by 2025 and 80 by 2035.
On Wednesday, China said it had successfully conducted a rare launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean, in a move likely to raise international concerns about the country’s nuclear buildup.
The United States and China held theater-level commander talks for the first time earlier this month amid efforts to stabilize military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hot spots such as the South China Sea.
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