Taiwan is moving ahead with plans to build its own submarines, with an initial design to be completed by the year-end, after lengthy delays in getting eight vessels under a 2001 US defense deal and as China’s navy expands rapidly.
While major obstacles remain, such as overcoming significant technical challenges and what would almost certainly be strenuous objections from Beijing, a political consensus has emerged in Taiwan in recent months that it can wait no longer, officials and legislators said.
Taiwan has four aging submarines, including two that date back to World War II, although its military is otherwise considered generally modern.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
However China, has 70 submarines, along with dozens of surface ships and a refurbished aircraft carrier, although that vessel is not yet fully operational.
A recent government defense report said China would be capable of a successful invasion by 2020.
“Our determination to build indigenous submarines is very firm. The navy is very actively pushing this matter,” Ministry of National Defense (MND) spokesman Major General David Lo (羅紹和) said. “The Republic of China will not engage in an arms race with China. We hope to acquire submarines to strengthen our self-defense.”
Captain Lin Chau-luen, head of the ministry’s naval force build-up and planning section, said during a recent conference in Taipei that plans encompassing the capacity and tonnage of a diesel-electric submarine would be finished by the end of the year.
The design of weapons systems would come later, with construction possibly starting in two years, he said, without saying how many vessels Taiwan wanted to build.
When reached for comments, Lin declined to give further details, saying he was only permitted to speak with reporters at public engagements.
The Presidential Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred questions to the defense ministry.
Lo said it was too soon to make public comments on how far plans for homegrown submarines had advanced, but added that Taiwan would need assistance from the US or other parties with experience building submarines.
Taiwan was not currently in any formal talks with foreign defense contractors, officials said.
Experts said European governments would likely prevent their defense companies from getting involved to avoid China’s wrath.
“China is resolutely opposed to any form of military technological exchanges or cooperation or weapons sales from foreign countries to the Taiwan region,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement sent to reporters.
A Taiwanese defense ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said domestic industry could build basic surface ships, but did not have experience with underwater vessels.
Shipbuilder CSBC Corp Taiwan (CSBC) — the sole company in Taiwan able to construct submarines — has indicated it could build a pressurized hull, the official said, but added that developing a submarine was very complex.
A CSBC executive said the company had not received any orders and referred further questions to the government.
Taiwan began considering building its own submarines in the early 2000s, when a deal with Washington to acquire eight diesel-electric submarines in 2001 got bogged down amid technical and political constraints.
Since the US operates nuclear-powered submarines, Taiwan would have needed to buy vessels from foreign defense contractors or obtained enough technical details from Washington or other parties to refurbish older submarines acquired on the open market.
However, European countries, for example, balked in helping at the time for fear of damaging ties with China.
The US was also reportedly concerned about the security of any technology transfers. Another roadblock early on was in Taiwan, where political infighting over budget allocations held up funding.
“The US has received Taiwan’s requests for diesel submarines. These requests remain under interagency review,” said US Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Pool, a Pentagon spokesman, referring to the 2001 deal.
A US Department of State official, without mentioning the submarine agreement, said Washington would continue to help Taiwan maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities.
“We carefully evaluate Taiwan’s defensive needs on an ongoing basis and will consult with Congress as required before announcing any additional major arms sales to Taiwan,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Taipei’s plans come as other regional navies expand their own submarine fleets in part to create a strategic deterrent against China’s growing naval assertiveness in regional waters.
Naval analysts say the stealth of a well-run submarine makes it a classic asymmetric weapon, complicating the strategic calculations of a potential foe with a larger navy.
Japan is gradually expanding its fleet of advanced diesel-electric submarines, while Vietnam recently put its first two full-sized submarines to sea, with four more diesel-electric vessels to be delivered within the next two years as part of a US$2.6 billion deal with Russia.
For Taiwan, the balance of power favors China, when many Taiwanese remain wary of autocratic China’s designs on the island.
China’s recent restrictions on how Hong Kong is to elect its next leader in 2017 have also stirred concern in Taiwan if it were to ever come under Beijing’s control.
“[China] is militarily stronger and stronger, while our submarines are older and older,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. “We have to have something to build up the confidence in democracy in Taiwan.”
The Democratic Progressive Party has also advocated an indigenous submarine program.
A report by the Project 2049 Institute, a US-based think tank specializing in Asian security issues, said a viable fleet of at least eight submarines operating as one component of a broader operational system could deny China’s military uncontested control of the waters surrounding Taiwan.
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