China is having big problems maintaining its Russian-built and supplied Kilo-class submarines, although it is planning to buy even more, defense sources said yesterday.
The Chinese navy has four Kilo-class submarines, which are the most advanced submarines in its fleet and the only ones it has obtained from abroad.
The sources said two of the submarines had been taken out of service over two years ago, after developing serious battery problems. They speculated that they had been taken to Russia for repair.
The four submarines are of an older type of Kilo, the first of which was delivered in 1995. The Chinese navy is reportedly planning to buy more of the vessels, perhaps as many as eight, according to Jane's Defence Weekly.
The Canada-based Kanwa Information Center, a defense-oriented news Web site, was the first to reveal in late 2000 that China planned to send the two Kilos back to Russia for repair.
Over the past 18 months, Taiwan's intelligence authorities have been closely monitoring the movements of the two Kilos.
Although intelligence authorities could uncover no direct evidence, they do know that the submarines had left their base in China.
The fate of the Kilos indicates that the Chinese military has yet to develop the ability to operate advanced weapons systems purchased from abroad, the sources said.
However, a Taiwanese defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Taiwan was also having difficulties.
"We have similar problems here in Taiwan. Just think of the many problems we have experienced while bringing into service new weapons systems bought from abroad over recent years," the official said.
"New problems will arise in the future, as the eight diesel-powered submarines that the US has promised to sell to Taiwan are delivered. It will be the first time that the navy has owned so many submarines at the same time," he said.
"If the navy can't make itself ready for the operation of so many submarines before delivery, it will be Taiwan's turn to become a laughing stock [in the eyes of] China," he said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching