Taiwan unveiled its first-ever domestically built submarine on Thursday, an accomplishment the island democracy’s leader hailed as a significant milestone as Taipei works to boost its military deterrence in the face of a growing threat from Beijing.
President Tsai Ing-wen presided over a ceremony at the submarine’s shipyard in southern Kaohsiung city where the diesel-electric vessel was officially named “Narwhal” in English and “Hai Kun” in Mandarin – which can be loosely translated as “sea monster”.
Taiwanese defense chiefs hope the submarines would help to make it far harder for a potential invasion by China, which claims the island as its territory and has ramped up its saber-rattling in recent years. While the Taiwan Strait might be too shallow for submarines to operate in, the vessels could be most useful when deployed to target Chinese warships in the Bashi channel – which separates Taiwan from the Philippines – and the waters between Taiwan and Japan’s westernmost islands, he said.
“Because submarines can operate deep under water and are hard to detect, they have a better chance of getting close to aircraft carriers” and launching attacks. Admiral Huang also said the submarines are designed with the capability of carrying US-made MK-48 torpedoes, which can be used to target surface ships.Taiwan has increasingly emphasized a policy of defense self-sufficiency, which has seen the island ramp up its domestic weapons development to modernize its armed forces and be less reliant on overseas procurement.
In March, CNN visited a Taiwanese state-owned military weapons developer, as it unveiled five new types of indigenous military drones that are capable of surveillance and launching aerial attacks. In recent years Chinese fighter jets, bombers and surveillance aircraft have conducted an ever growing number of sorties around the island, while Chinese warships have crossed the unofficial Median Line that runs down the Taiwan Strait with growing frequency.
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