This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows what appears to be a sunken Chinese submarine at a shipyard near Wuhan, China, June 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

China sought to cover up the sinking of its newest nuclear-powered submarine, a senior US defense official said on Thursday, September 26, 2024.

The sinking at a shipyard earlier this year was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which also said that satellite imagery later showed large floating cranes arriving to salvage it.

“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,” the senior U.S. defense official said on condition of anonymity, referring to Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army Navy.

“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 official said.

The incident is a setback for China, which is seeking to modernize its navy — the largest in the world, but which includes many smaller warships such as frigates and corvettes.

When asked about the reports on Friday (September 27), its Foreign Ministry said it was “not aware” of the incident concerning the submarine.

The United States and Britain are meanwhile working to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines — a move that would expand the pool of countries with the advanced undersea vessels.

Beijing has been critical of the effort, which also envisages jointly developing advanced warfighting capabilities and is seen as a strategic answer to Chinese military ambitions in the Pacific region.

Tokyo:

Canada is in discussions about joining an expanded AUKUS deal between the US, Britain, and Australia formed to counter China’s growing military influence in the Indo-Pacific region, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said.

Canada has said it wants to join a second pillar of AUKUS that will collaborate on new military technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, but has not so far revealed any details of those talks.

The military alliance AUKUS stands for Australia, United Kingdom, United States.

“There have been important discussions about processes and platforms on a project-specific basis on where other nations, including Japan and ourselves, might participate,” Blair said in an interview in Tokyo where he met his Japanese counterpart Minoru Kihara.

“I would respectfully wait until they’ve come to their determination, but I’m very optimistic,” he said.

Blair said he and Kihara discussed AUKUS, which is already considering working with Japan. The initial phase of AUKUS involves the three founding members working on nuclear submarine technology for Australia.

Blair, who was on his first trip to Japan as defence minister, arrived in Tokyo from South Korea, which is also in talks about a role in AUKUS.

Canada is looking for a bigger security role in Asia and has made forging deeper ties with Japan and South Korea a priority. As its defence commitments expand at home and overseas the country is expanding military spending.

“Next year, my defence budget will rise by 27% over this year, and, frankly, in the next three or four years, our defence spending will triple,” Blair said.

He and Kihara also discussed Chinese incursions into Japanese territory that last month prompted Tokyo to lodge protests with Beijing.

Concerns about that Chinese military activity may be discussed at a meeting of the Group of Seven defence ministers in Italy next month, Blair said.

“It’s an important opportunity for us to have a conversation among the G7 partners about some of the activities that are deeply concerning to Japan and to Canada and to the United States and others,” he said.
 

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