A submarine attached to a submarine flotilla with the navy under the PLA Northern Theater Command bears off a port for the maritime combat training drills on March 23, 2022. Photo:China Military

 
Foreign media reported on Tuesday that China recently launched what seems to be a new or upgraded class of nuclear-powered attack submarine, citing analyses based on satellite images.

Chinese experts said on Wednesday that the reports are only speculative, and the West, especially the US, should not apply double standards on China's normal national defense development, as the US has been frequently sending nuclear-powered submarines near China and the newly established AUKUS alliance which provides Australia with nuclear-powered submarines for the first time also aims to confront China.

Commercial satellite images taken from April 24 to May 4 confirm that a probable nuclear-powered attack submarine was in dry dock at a shipyard in Northeast China, and the boat was later seen mostly submerged in the same place after the dry dock was flooded, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

It could be a new type of vessel, or it could be an upgrade of an existing model, as the vessel's shape resembles the profile of a Type 093 submarine, Reuters said.

Citing a Pentagon report released in November, Reuters said that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy was likely to build in the next few years a new attack submarine with vertical launch tubes for cruise missiles.

The reports are only speculative and aim to hype the "China threat" theory, analysts said. No conclusion should be drawn from the photos, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

But it is natural and necessary for China to develop more advanced submarines as part of its plan to modernize its military, Song said.

China's attack submarines are evolving to tackle a growing range of potential demands, from protecting ballistic missile submarines and the aircraft carrier battle groups to tracking enemy ships, Reuters said.

China is now facing serious external threats from countries like the US, so it must develop strong enough military capabilities and comprehensive national strength, Song said.

In 2021 alone, the US sent at least 11 nuclear-powered attack submarines to the South China Sea with an obvious intent to deter China, according to a report released in March by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a Beijing-based think tank. US submarine activities were so intensive that they resulted in an accident - the Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Connecticut suffered an underwater collision in the South China Sea in October, 2021.

Under the framework of the AUKUS alliance, the US and the UK are providing Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines for the first time in an attempt to contain China, even at the risk of nuclear proliferation.

The US should not apply a double standard with the bully logic that only the US and its allies can develop military strength while others like China cannot, Song said.