China’s newest combat submarine is equipped with super sonic missiles and has been deployed off Taiwan

China patrols the waters around Taiwan with its newest attack submarines, which are armed with supersonic missiles. The Type 039C Yuan-class submarines, which only entered service in July, are deployed in China’s East Sea fleet and represent the top of the country’s non-nuclear submarines.

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They are also likely to play a significant role in a comprehensive island blockade, as they can be used much more effectively against incoming and outgoing ships. Not to mention that Taiwan has only 11 days’ worth of natural gas and 146 days’ worth of oil in stock.

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Taiwan on Tuesday accused China of exaggeration and “trickery” after the Chinese military released footage of the strategically important Penghu Islands, where a sizeable Taiwanese air base is located.

Indeed, the Chinese military unit in charge of the area bordering Taiwan, the Eastern Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, released a video of the Penghu Islands on Monday that appeared to have been taken by a nearby Chinese Air Force aircraft.

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Taiwan Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Tung Pei-lun told reporters in Taipei that it was Chinese information warfare but said he could not say who took the video. “China used the exaggerated tricks of cognitive warfare to show how close it was to Penghu – which is not true,” Tung said.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry showed on a map Monday in an update of Chinese air force activity near Taiwan that the four J-16 fighter jets were closest to Penghu that day.

China's navy is encircling Taiwan with exercises. https://t.co/ZnIhC6KDRK

— National Interest (@TheNatlInterest) August 15, 2022

The map showed that the fighter jets crossed the centerline of the Taiwan Strait – usually an unofficial barrier between the two sides – but remained closer to the Chinese coast than Penghu.

Tung said Taiwan knew in real time what was happening in the skies and that Chinese aircraft had operated north and southwest of Taiwan and beyond the centerline.

China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, has been conducting military exercises around the island this month following a visit by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a visit by five U.S. lawmakers on Sunday and Monday.

Beijing has also imposed sanctions on seven Taiwanese officials and lawmakers it accuses as “supporters of independence.”

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