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Taiwan unveiled its first domestically built submarine Thursday as the massively outgunned island seeks to bolster defences against China, which slammed the strategy as “idiotic nonsense”.
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China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory, and has in the past year stepped up military and political pressure, ramping up the number of warplane incursions around the island while diplomatically isolating it.
Taiwan has increased defence spending — allotting a record $19 billion for 2024 — to acquire military equipment, particularly from its key ally the United States, but its quest to obtain a submarine has faced obstacles.
President Tsai Ing-wen — strongly opposed by Beijing for her refusal to accept China’s authority over the island — launched a submarine programme in 2016 with the aim of delivering a fleet of eight vessels.
The first prototype, named “Hai Kun” in Chinese, meaning “mythical sea creature”, and dubbed “Narwhal” in English, was unveiled Thursday at a ceremony in the southern port city of Kaohsiung.
“History will forever remember this day,” declared Tsai, standing in front of the vessel draped in Taiwan’s flag colours.
“In the past, building submarines domestically was considered ‘Mission Impossible’. But today, a submarine designed and built by our own people is right in front of everyone — we did it,” she said.
A fruit of our self-reliant defense policy and future underwater capacity that guards our waters, Taiwan’s first indigenous defense #submarine has been named ‘Narwhal’ and was christened by President Tsai @iingwen this morning. pic.twitter.com/Qoop7XBGVC
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. (@MoNDefense) September 28, 2023
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