China’s newest nuclear-powered attack submarine sank alongside a dock while under construction, a senior US defense official said Thursday, satellite images showed.
The sinking of China’s first Chu-class submarine represents a setback for Beijing as it continues to build the world’s largest navy. Beijing has become increasingly assertive in pursuing its sovereignty claim over almost the entire South China Sea, which is crucial to international trade.
Meanwhile, China faces long-standing territorial disputes involving other countries in the region including Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. The United States seeks to strengthen relations with its allies in the region and regularly sails through those waters in operations that it says preserve the freedom of navigation for ships there, angering Beijing.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details about the loss of the submarine, said it was likely the submarine sank between May and June, when satellite images showed cranes that would be needed to lift it from the river bottom.
China has been building its naval fleet at a very rapid pace, and the United States sees the rise of China as one of its main security concerns in the future.
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A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday that he was not aware of the matter and did not provide any information when asked about it at a press conference in Beijing.
The US official said it was “not surprising” that the Chinese Navy would hide it. The current status of the submarine is unknown.
The identity of the sunken nuclear submarine was first reported in the Wall Street Journal. Thomas Shugart, a former U.S. Navy diver and analyst at the Center for a New American Security, first noted the incident involving the submarine in July, although it was not publicly known at the time that it involved the new Zhou-class ship.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show what appears to be a submarine docked at the Shuangliu Shipyard on the Yangtze River before the accident.
The photo taken on June 15 appears to show the submarine fully or partially submerged just below the surface of the river, with rescue equipment and cranes surrounding it. Surrounded by booms to prevent any oil or other leakage from the vessel.
A satellite image taken on August 25 shows a submarine at the same dock as the submerged ship. It is not clear if it is the same.
It remains unclear whether the damaged submarine was loaded with nuclear fuel or whether its reactor was operating at the time of the accident. However, no radiation release has been reported in the area since then.
According to a US military report, as of last year China operated six nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, six nuclear-powered attack submarines, and 48 diesel-powered attack submarines.
News of the submarine’s sinking comes as China this week conducted a rare launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters in the Pacific Ocean. Experts say this is the first time Beijing has conducted such a test since 1980.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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