China is in pickles after the world has learned about the sinking of a very important naval submarine. Anonymous U.S. defence official has confirmed that one of China’s first-in-class nuclear powered attack submarines sank earlier this year. This incident has raised questions about the operational condition of China’s navel capabilities and has also embarrassed Beijing as it has always tried to set its power in the naval sector and also boasts the world’s largest Navy with over 370 ships.
In fact satellite images collected from planet labs from the June 2023 show the presence of grains surrounding the Wuchang shipyard, where the submarine was kept, signaling the aftermath of the sinking incident. Although, it is not confirmed yet as to why it sank and if the submarine had nuclear fuel on board at the time of the incident. The U.S. official, who did not want to disclose his identity, has highlights how this incident gives us an insight that there are many potential issues in the Chinese military including training standards as well as quality of equipment being used.
PLA Navy hiding submarine’s sinking
It has been reported that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has been deceiving the public by attempting to hide about this submarine’s sinking. Adding to this the US defence official said that even if that’s the case, it won’t be surprising for the PLA maybe Navy to try and hide such an embarrassing event due to the sensitivity of the matter. Given that the Chinese defence industry has always faced accusations of participating in corruption which raises serious questions about its operational efficiency.
Chinese embassy says “no information”
Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington said that they have no information to provide about any such incident. “We are not family or with the situation you mentioned and currently have no information to provide” they added. The incident has occurred at a time when China has embarked on a mission of producing a new generation of nuclear armed submarines. Let us tell you that China had 6 nuclear power ballistic missile submarines along with 6 nuclear powered attack submarines and 48 diesel powered attack submarines as of 2022.
The United States defence department has predicted that China may have 65 submarines by 2025 and 80 submarines by 2035. Apart from the submarine sinking incident, China recently had another big thing going on that’s successfully launching an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean, which possibly is a concerning matter globally about the country’s nuclear buildup.