Taiwan has unveiled its first domestically-made submarine as it aims to strengthen the island’s defences against the Chinese navy.
Key points:
- The submarine is part of a program aimed at bolstering Taiwan’s defences against China
- At a press conference, China’s Defence Ministry said Taiwan’s submarine strategy was “idiotic”
- The ministry also said it was unaware of China’s defence minister going missing
President Tsai Ing-wen, who initiated the indigenous submarine program when she took office in 2016, showed off the first of eight new submarines in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Thursday.
China which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has made the program a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.
“In the past, a domestically developed submarine was considered an impossible task. But, today, a submarine designed and manufactured by our country’s people sits before our eyes,” Ms Tsai said.
She added that it would play an important role in bolstering the navy’s “asymmetric warfare” capabilities.
“Even if there are risks, and no matter how many challenges there are, Taiwan must take this step and allow the self-reliant national defence policy to grow and flourish on our land,” she said.
The $1.53 billion ($AU2.39 billion) submarine revealed at Thursday’s ceremony will not enter service for another two years.
It will undergo sea trials next month and will be delivered to the navy by the end of 2024.
Taiwan hopes to equip later models with missiles.
The submarine has drawn on expertise and technology from several countries — a breakthrough for diplomatically isolated Taiwan.
Cheng Wen-lon, head of Taiwan’s CSBC Corp, which led construction of the submarine, said its domestic content was about 40 per cent.
But he made no explicit mention of foreign participation in his speech in Kaohsiung.
The submarines will use a combat system by US defence company Lockheed Martin Corp and carry US-made torpedoes.
Admiral Huang Shu-kuang, Ms Tsai’s security adviser, described the submarines as a “strategic deterrent” that could also help maintain the island’s “lifeline” to the Pacific by keeping ports along Taiwan’s eastern coast open.
China openly ridiculed Taiwanese hopes for what the submarines could do to defend the island.
“No matter how many weapons the Democratic Progressive Party buys, it will not obstruct the greater trend of reunification with the motherland,” said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson in China’s Ministry of National Defense.
“As for talk about preventing the People’s Liberation Army from entering the Pacific Ocean, this is idiotic nonsense.”
Unaware of missing defence minister
Senior Colonel Wu was also asked at Thursday’s news conference about China’s missing defence minister Li Shangfu.
Mr Li, who has been in the role for just half a year, went missing from public view about a month ago, leading to speculation he may be under investigation for corruption.
“I’m not aware of the situation you mentioned,” Colonel Wu said in response to a question from a foreign news outlet about whether General Li is still the country’s defence minister.
The one-sentence response is the ministry’s first public comments on the disappearance.
General Li is the second minister to go missing after Qin Gang was stripped of the foreign minister position in July.
The Chinese government has given no reason as to why the two suddenly stopped making public appearances.
The disappearance of officials and other people without explanation is not uncommon in China and often followed months later by the announcement of criminal charges against the person.
The disappearance of two sitting ministers in rapid succession, though, is unusual.
The American ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, tweeted earlier this month that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Cabinet lineup “is now resembling Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None”.
ABC/wires