The sinking allegedly took place near the Chinese city of Wuhan around late May or early June. The attack submarine was the first of a new Zhou-class line of sea vessels.
According to an unnamed senior Biden administration official cited in multiple media reports, "it's not surprising" that China's navy "would try to conceal the fact that their new first-in-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank pier-side," he told multiple news outlets.
It has not clear if nuclear material was on the submarine when it allegedly went down.
On Friday at a news conference in Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said he was not familiar with the topic and did not provide any information when asked about it, the BBC reported.
"We are not familiar with the situation you mentioned and currently have no information to provide," a separate spokesperson from China's embassy in Washington told CNN.
China currently has the biggest navy in the world by number of ships.
The communist nation has had long-standing maritime territorial disputes with other neighboring countries, such as Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.
According to the Congressional Research Service, China is on track to have by next year 65 submarines and about 80 in the next decade by 2035 due to growth the Chinese submarine construction sector.
Meanwhile, the nuclear-powered U.S. Navy reportedly has 53 "fast attack" submarines, 14 ballistic-missile submarines and four guided-missile submarines.
The apparent sinking was first noticed by an expert in the field who examines satellite imagery of China's shipyards.
Thomas Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submariner and an analyst at the Center for a New American Security, said the sinking was a "setback" that would cause "pretty significant embarrassment" for China's People's Liberation Army navy, but added that the safety risk was probably "pretty low."
"I've never seen a bunch of cranes clustered around (one spot)," Shugart told CNN. "If you go back and look at historical imagery, you can see one crane, but not a bunch clustered there," said Shugart.
Shugart says what took place "raises deeper questions" about the PLA's "internal accountability and oversight" of China's defense industry which contends "has long been plagued by corruption."
"I do not see it significantly altering the really impressive upward trajectory of the PLA navy's capability," he stated.
China covered up sinking of newest submarine: US official
Washington (AFP) Sept 27, 2024 -
China sought to cover up the sinking of its newest nuclear-powered submarine, a senior US defense official said on Thursday.
The sinking at a shipyard earlier this year was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which also said that satellite imagery later showed large floating cranes arriving to salvage it.
"It's not surprising that the PLA Navy would try to conceal the fact that their new first-in-class nuclear-powered attack submarine sank pierside," the senior US defense official said on condition of anonymity, referring to Beijing's People's Liberation Army Navy.
"In addition to the obvious questions about training standards and equipment quality, the incident raises deeper questions about the PLA's internal accountability and oversight of China's defense industry -- which has long been plagued by corruption," the official said.
The incident is a setback for China, which is seeking to modernize its navy -- the largest in the world, but which includes many smaller warships such as frigates and corvettes.
When asked about the reports on Friday, its foreign ministry said it was "not aware" of the incident concerning the submarine.
The United States and Britain are meanwhile working to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines -- a move that would expand the pool of countries with the advanced undersea vessels.
Beijing has been critical of the effort, which also envisages jointly developing advanced warfighting capabilities and is seen as a strategic answer to Chinese military ambitions in the Pacific region.
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