Taiwan begins construction of first home-built sub

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen inaugurated the production of a domestically-made submarine Tuesday morning in the southern city of Kaohsiung in a step forward for the island's defense strategy at a time of elevated tensions with China. Since becoming president, Tsai has focused on boosting Taiwan's military capabilities, which face the ever-present threat of reunification by China.

China has stepped up military exercises towards Taiwan this year, flying fighter jets and reconnaissance planes on an almost daily basis towards the self-ruled island. China claims Taiwan as part of its national territory, though the two have split since a civil war in 1949.

"Walking on this path that historically the government has never taken before, there were all kinds of challenges, and we were met with all sorts of doubts, but challenges and doubts won't defeat us," said Tsai, standing in front of the warehouse where the submarine parts will be manufactured.

She was speaking to a group of legislators, the defense minister, members of the design team as well as the head of the de-facto US embassy Brent Christensen, at the shipyard of CSBC Corporation, Taiwan. "This submarine is an important part of allowing our navy to develop asymmetric warfare and to intimidate and block enemy ships from surrounding Taiwan's main island," she said.

"With the construction of the submarine to its future commission, we will certainly let the world know our persistence in safeguarding our sovereignty," Tsai said.

Only a handful of countries around the world are capable of domestically creating a submarine from design to construction. Tsai however, has made boosting Taiwan's indigenous defense capacity a central pillar of her defense policy. Recently, she re-launched the military aviation industry with the production of new trainer jets. Taiwan's navy has just two combat-ready submarines, versions of the Zwaardvis-class subs purchased from the Netherlands in the 1980s in a deal that led to a major diplomatic rift between Beijing and The Hague.

Beijing has made successful efforts to prevent Taiwan from purchasing such craft from abroad in recent years, as it considers Taiwan to be part of China's sovereign territory. The project has also faced criticism over its cost. The design phase of the project itself was estimated to cost around 3 billion Taiwanese dollars (100 million US dollars). The submarine has been four years in the design stage. The Taiwanese subs' designs have relied in a large part on foreign experts as well. The submarines are due to be completed in 2025.