Unconfirmed reports have suggested a Chinese nuclear submarine has crashed in the Taiwan Strait—the body of water that separates mainland China from Taiwan—days after Beijing launched military drills around the island in a "stern warning" to Taipei and Washington.
Reports circulating online have claimed that one of China's Type 093, or "Shang-class," nuclear submarines had crashed in unknown circumstances at some point in the past few days. Some of the reports claimed the entire crew onboard the vessel had been killed.
Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway part of mainland China, to be eventually reunited under central control. But Taipei, which has established a democratic government, has long asserted its independence from Beijing and attempted to align itself with Western allies.
There has been no official confirmation of a Chinese submarine running into difficulty in the contentious strait, and experts have been hesitant to speculate. The topic was not mentioned in a press briefing from China's Defense Ministry on Tuesday and has not appeared in any state news agencies' reports.
Officials in Taipei did not confirm the reports. In remarks carried by Taiwanese news outlets on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Taipei's Defense Ministry said during a regular press briefing that the island's military and government had not detected any evidence of a submarine crash and could not substantiate the reports.
Newsweek has reached out to the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment.
There has not yet been "any convincing evidence" to support the reports, naval expert and analyst, H I Sutton, said in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday.
According to the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies, China has six Shang-class, nuclear-powered, general-purpose attack submarines. "While it is not the most common submarine in the Chinese Navy's fleet, it is currently the most potent," Sutton wrote in 2020.
The reports come just days after Beijing launched large-scale military drills around Taiwan, after months of heightened tension between China, Taiwan and the U.S.
Although the U.S. does not have formal relations with Taiwan under the "One China" policy, it maintains a "robust unofficial relationship" with Taipei.
In recent months, China has held several rounds of military drills close to Taiwan, including in August 2022, as then-U.S. House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taipei for a high-profile visit. In early April, China's military carried out several days of drills after Taiwan's leader, Tsai Ing-wen, met with current House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Beijing's Eastern Theater Command launched air and sea patrols and started army and navy military drills on Saturday, and a spokesperson for the command said the exercises and beefed-up military presence were training the branches of the military to "seize control of air and sea spaces," Beijing's Xinhua news agency reported.
The activity is "a stern warning" to Taiwan's officials and "foreign elements and their provocations," the spokesperson added.
"We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan," a State Department spokesperson told the Reuters news agency in a statement at the weekend.
In a post to X on Wednesday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had detected six Chinese aircraft and eight vessels around Taiwan by 6 a.m. local time. The previous day, Taipei said 15 Chinese aircraft and 10 vessels had been spotted around the island.
