Taiwan Unveils Homemade Submarine as It Seeks to Counter China Threat
By Joyu Wang, Sept. 28, 2023, WSJ
China’s recent military drills are aimed at crushing the “arrogance of Taiwan independence separatists,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said on Wednesday, a day before Taiwan’s submarine launch.

The Chinese military has made a priority of preventing the U.S. from being able to intervene in any military conflict around Taiwan, given the island’s geographical advantages, including the 100-mile-wide strait that separates Taiwan from China and the
steep spine of mountains running down the center of the island, forming a natural barrier to enemy troops from the west.

For Taiwan, the new Narwhal submarine could serve as an effective deterrent, equipped with U.S.-made Mark 48 heavyweight torpedoes, making any plans for an attack on Taiwan more uncertain.

“It complicates all your calculations, it complicates your planning, and you might have to devote resources just simply to hunt for the undersea threat that you face,” said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies
at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. “That alone can be quite a tedious and sometimes unrewarding task.”

For Huang, a national security adviser and former head of Taiwan’s navy, building an undersea vessel from scratch required several trips to Washington to persuade senior Pentagon officials to support its efforts.

“The security of Taiwan is directly related to the interests of the United States. If Taiwan were to fall, it would also impact U.S. interests,” Huang recalled telling his Pentagon counterparts, warning the U.S. about China’s Communist Party. “
The CCP is already knocking on your front door. Do you think you should help?”

Huang said he drew upon personal connections to seek help, writing letters to executives of military suppliers around the world. In 2018, Taiwan was able to win approval from the U.S. for exports of submarine parts and important technology that it wasn’
t able to produce domestically.

Among other challenges, concerns about espionage kept the former admiral awake for many nights, referring to one Taiwanese supplier that he said leaked submarine plans to Chinese officials after failing to win a Taiwanese procurement bid. Huang didn’t
elaborate.

Taiwan’s new submarine, known in Chinese as “Haikun”—a reference to a sea monster from Chinese lore—will first undergo testing before entering service for Taiwan’s navy. Huang said the goal is for Taiwan to have at least four submarines
active in service by 2027, after adding one more to the existing fleet.

Submarines are what military analysts describe as a sea denial weapon because of their ability to play a role in deterring ships, in this case from coming close to the island. They are mobile and don’t need to spend much time in port to operate.

“These submarines are survivable platforms,” said Thomas Shugart, a former submarine officer and an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “You can just send them to sea and say, ‘Hey, sink whatever stuff’s coming
across the strait.’”

Even so, questions remain over whether Taiwan will be able to finance the production of more homemade submarines. A general election in January will see Taiwanese voters pick a new president and legislative body, with power over the military budget.

Former navy captain Jiang Hsin-biao, an assistant research fellow at the Taiwanese military-backed Institute for National Defense and Security Research said he would like to see the Taiwanese navy operate at least 16 homemade submarines, which could work
in tandem with Taiwanese surface ships and air power to deter the PLA’s rising naval capabilities.

“What surface ships fear most is attacks from beneath the water,” Jiang said.

https://www.wsj.com/world/china/taiwan-unveils-homemade-submarine-as-it-seeks-to-counter-china-threat-ad4c41e8

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