Taiwanese fishermen spot Chinese nuclear submarine emerging from the water

Taiwan said it “closely monitored” a Chinese nuclear submarine that surfaced in the shallow waters of the Taiwan Strait early Tuesday.

The submarine surprised the crew of a squid boat, which took pictures of the vessel.

The images showed the black hull of a Type 094 submarine, also known as the Jin class, Newsweek reported. The Jin class, six of which are in service, can launch ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads and are sometimes referred to as “boomers.”

The submarine was seen around 5 a.m., about 25 nautical miles from Quemoy Island, just west of the median line that separates Taiwan and China.

Soon after the Jin class was spotted, another warship was seen escorting it toward the mainland, the South China Morning Post reported.  The submarine did not submerge again, the fishermen said.

“The military had a comprehensive understanding of the situation through relevant intelligence and reconnaissance methods,” Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo said without speculating on the crew’s intentions.

Taiwanese military experts said there could be many reasons as to why the submarine surfaced, including routine maintenance, a technical malfunction, or perhaps a deliberate show of force.

“Nuclear submarines like the Type 094 have specialized missions and typically avoid surfacing due to their sensitivity and the need for stealth,” Ying-yu Lin, a professor of international relations and strategic studies at Tamkang University in New Taipei, told the outlet.

Zivon Wang, a military analyst at the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies, said he believes the submarine surfacing was “likely a routine transit for a mission switch or maintenance at the shipyard in the Bohai Sea given its northward trajectory from its base on the southern coast of Hainan in the South China Sea.”

The submarine’s reported location has a depth of just 147 feet, Newsweek reported.

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In 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense’s annual report on China’s power called the Jin-class submarine the country’s “first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent.” Earlier Jin-class boats, which were fitted with the JL-2 intercontinental-range submarine-launched ballistic missile, were capable of reaching Alaska from the South China Sea.

Beijing later armed the Jin class with the longer-range JL-3, putting the United States in its sights with an estimated range of over 6,000 miles, said Adm. Sam Paparo, leader of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and then-head of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, in 2022.