Embarrassment as China’s newest nuclear-powered submarine 'sinks in Wuhan shipyard' in months-long navy cover-up
27 September 2024, 08:38 | Updated: 27 September 2024, 09:20
A high-tech nuclear-powered Chinese submarine has sunk, with the Communist Party covering it up for months, according to US officials.
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The Chinese navy was reportedly left desperately trying to cover up the incident and stop foreign governments from discovering the sub’s wreckage.
The attack submarine was the first of its new Zhou-class line of vessels, characterised by an X shape at its head, being built in a Wuhan shipyard
“It’s not surprising that the PLA Navy would try to conceal the fact that their new first-in-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank pierside,” said the senior US defence official.
Satellite imagery captured by Maxar Technologies showed the sub docked in the shipyard in March.
Later photos taken in June revealed the nuclear sub never returned to the Wuhan dock.
"We are not familiar with the situation you mentioned and currently have no information to provide," the Chinese official said.
The missing sub was first noticed by Tom Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
He told CNN: “I’ve never seen a bunch of cranes clustered around (one spot).
“If you go back and look at historical imagery, you can see one crane, but not a bunch clustered there.
“Usually, those submarines, after they get launched, they’re there at the shipyard for several months in outfitting. And it wasn’t there anymore,” Shugart continued.
It is unknown if the ship was carrying nuclear fuel, but US officials have speculated it was.
It is also unknown if any military personnel died when the sub sank.
“In addition to the obvious questions about training standards and equipment quality, the incident raises deeper questions about the PLA’s internal accountability and oversight of China’s defense industry, which has long been plagued by corruption,” the US official continued.
This comes as the Chinese government turns its focus to improving its aging stock of submarines.
The country is reportedly building a whole new line of submarines in a bid to deter aggression from abroad.
