Taipei keeping watch after Chinese submarine surfaces in Taiwan Strait

A nuclear-powered Type 094A Jin-class ballistic missile submarine of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy is seen during a military display in the South China Sea on April 12, 2018. The submarine that surfaced in the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday appeared to be one of this class. | REUTERS

by BEN BLANCHARD AND YIMOU LEE
June 18, 2024

TAIPEI – Taiwan's defense minister said on Tuesday that they have a "grasp" of the situation after pictures appeared online of a Chinese nuclear submarine surfacing in the sensitive Taiwan Strait near Taiwanese fishermen.

The narrow strait that separates Taiwan from China is a frequent source of tension. Taiwan reports Chinese warplanes and warships operating there on a daily basis, as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims against the democratically governed island.

Taiwanese media published the pictures of the surfaced craft, which appears to be a nuclear-armed Jin-class ballistic missile submarine, taken by Taiwanese fishermen in the strait as dawn broke on Tuesday, about 200 kilometers from Taiwan's western coast.