Sub bolsters Taiwan defense vs China

Taiwan unveiled its first domestically built submarine on Thursday to bolster the island's defenses against China.

President Tsai Ing-wen presided over the launch ceremony for the Hai Kun or "Narwhal" in English at CSBC Corporation's Kaohsiung shipyard, according to Taiwan News.

Tsai performed the bottle-breaking ritual and named the submarine, which means "giant fish" in Chinese.

National Security Council Secretary General Wellington Koo, American Institute in Taiwan Director Sandra Oudkirk, Defense Minister Chiu
Kuo-cheng, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai and other dignitaries attended the ceremony, CNA reported.

Strongly opposed by Beijing for her refusal to accept China's authority over the island, Tsai launched a submarine program in 2016 with the aim of delivering a fleet of eight vessels.

Construction on the first started in 2020 by CSBC Corporation, a company specializing in container ships and military vessels.

Carrying a price tag of $1.5 billion, the submarine's displacement weight is about 2,500 to 3,000 tons, with its combat systems and torpedoes sourced from the United States defense company Lockheed Martin.

Ben Lewis, a US-based independent analyst who focuses on the Chinese military's movements around the island, said the Taiwanese submarine can pose a threat to Chinese amphibious assault and troop transport capabilities.

"They have practised extensively the use of civilian vessels to augment their existing troop delivery platforms, and a submarine could wreak havoc on vessels not designed for naval warfare," Lewis said.

The submarine will still need at least three years to become operational, Zivon Wang, a military analyst at Taipei-based think tank the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, said.

"The launch… does not mean that Taiwan will become very powerful right away but it is a crucial element of Taiwan's defense strategy and a part of our efforts to build deterrence capabilities," Wang said.

China's state-run Global Times on Monday published an op-ed saying Taiwan's submarine deployment plan to block the Chinese military was "daydreaming."

"The plan is just an illusion of the island attempting to resist reunification by force," it said.