Taiwan To Launch First Domestically Built Submarine

Taiwan hopes to deploy at least two new, domestically developed submarines by 2027 to strengthen deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines.

Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has made the indigenous sub-program a key part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.

Taiwanese admiral Admiral Huang Shu-Kuang, who is leading the program, said a fleet of 10 submarines – which includes two Dutch-made submarines commissioned in the 1980s – will make it harder for the Chinese navy to project power into the Pacific.