China demands details on US nuclear submarine collision incident

Asia-Pacific, News, US October 9, 2021 , by IRIA No Comments

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian stated that the U.S. must present the international community with specifics and details about the U.S. Nuclear Submarine USS Connecticut incident.

While speaking to the media on October 8, 2021, Lijian stated that China is “gravely concerned about the incident”, and asked the United States to “clarify specific details, including the exact location of the incident, the US side’s navigation intention, the details of the incident, the object the submarine struck, [and] whether the collision caused a nuclear leak or damaged local marine environment.”

According to U.S. Naval sources, the incident took place on October 2 in the South China Sea when the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Attack-Class Submarine USS Connecticut collided with an unknown object while submerge in waters, resulting in injuries to 11 crew members.

The submarine was conducting a routine operation, details of which have not been made public yet. According to the Naval Institute (USN1), the area’s topography at that time did not indicate any land mass in front of the boat, however, however they rejected the possibility that the submarine did not collide with another submarine. One of the officials, while talking to AP, said that there is a possibility that it could be a sunken vessel or a container that collided with the submarine.

China accused the U.S. for stalling and concealing the details of the incident “without transparency and due responsibility”, and announced that China and other countries surrounding the South China Sea deserve to know the true intentions of the U.S. Navy.

While adding to China’s concerns Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that “Any further delay in releasing the information can result in major environmental damage. The Nuclear Submarine carries hazardous and radioactive material, its coalition in the South China Sea poses a great nuclear threat. It must be made clear by the U.S. whether the collision has resulted in Radiation Leakage.”

Zhao Lijian also blamed the United States for “making trouble in the South China Sea in the name of freedom of navigation”, and held the U.S. responsible for posing “a grave threat and major risks for regional peace and stability”.

As the collision incident comes right after a groundbreaking security pact AUKUS, which took place between Australia, the U.S., and the UK, and focuses on the development of nuclear submarines in the Indo-Pacific region. Lijian stressed that this incident is particularly important amid the AUKUS security pact and raises a lot of questions about the U.S. and its allies’ capability of handling and managing nuclear-powered submarines.