Thursday was an important day for Taiwan as the country touched a great defense milestone. Taiwan unveiled its very first domestically designed and developed submarine and touched a significant milestone. The move is going to make Taiwan's deterrence and defense robust against the navy of China. However, as per reports, the submarine isn't going to get entered into the service for the coming two years.
Taiwan aims to modernize its armed forces and this step by Taiwan to bring forward its very own indigenous submarine program is a part of its vision.
Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan, started the plan in the year 2016. On Thursday, she unveiled the very first out of the eight new submarines in Kaohsiung.
"In the past, a domestically developed submarine was considered an impossible task. But, today, a submarine designed and manufactured by our country's people sits before our eyes," expressed Tsai.
She further said that the move would play a crucial role in making the "asymmetric warfare" capabilities of the navy more strong.
"Even if there are risks, and no matter how many challenges there are, Taiwan must take this step and allow the self-reliant national defense policy to grow and flourish on our land," said Tsai while standing beside the ship called the Narwhal. The red flag of Taiwan was wrapped around the bow of the submarine.
As per Tsai, the Narwhal will be coming into service in the year 2025 and will be a part of the group of two existing submarines that were actually bought from the Netherlands in the decade of 1980s.
The defense ministry of China, on the other hand, expressed that Taiwan was doing nothing but "over-rating itself and attempting something impossible".
Wu Qian, a spokesperson, also said "As for talk about preventing the People's Liberation Army from entering the Pacific Ocean, this is idiotic nonsense."
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The submarine reaction
The submarine program of Taiwan has received the technology and expertise from a myriad of countries. This has resulted in a diplomatic breakthrough for a country like Taiwan that has been isolated diplomatically.
Chief of the CSBC Corp of Taiwan, Cheng Wen-lon, led the construction of the indigenous submarine. The chief stated that 40 percent was the domestic content of the submarine. However, during his speech in Kaohsiung, the man did not make any explicit mention of any sort of foreign participation.
By the year 2027, Taiwan aims at deploying two such submarines that are domestically developed, along with possibly equipping later models with missiles.
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