Taiwan has unveiled its first domestically made submarine as it bolsters its defences against a possible invasion from China.
China has long claimed that it will reclaim the island which it views as a renegade province after it broke away following the 1949 civil war.
“History will forever remember this day,” President Tsai-Ing-wen said in front of the $1.5billion (£1.2billion) vessel at the southern port of Kaohsiung.
She added that the submarine would “dive deep down into the sea with Taiwan’s spirit of resilience and courage and quietly safeguard our home, our freedom and our democracy”.
The $1.54billion (£1.27billion) diesel-electric powered submarine will undergo further tests but will enter the navy by 2024, officials have said.
It has been named the Haikun which is a mythical fish that can fly and appears in Chinese literature.
Another submarine is in production and will eventually join a fleet of 10 others, including two older Dutch-made boats - although China possesses a fleet of 60 vessels including nuclear-powered attack submarines.
Western officials expect Beijing to mount an invasion of Taiwan in the next few years and have stepped military drills in the waters around the island to fend off any Chinese aggression.
Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu earlier this year predicted that China would mount an invasion in 2027, telling Sky News: “In 2027, Xi Jinping is likely to go into his fourth term, and, if in his previous three terms he cannot claim any achievement during his office, he might need to think about something else for him to claim as his achievement or his legacy.”
Ahead of the predicted invasion, Beijing has ramped up military drills around the waters of the self-governing island and through the Taiwan Strait - a key waterway separating China and Taiwan.
In response, Taiwan has gradually increased military spending to a record of $19.1billion (£15.6billion), equivalent to 2.6 percent of GDP.
Although relations with Taiwan remain informal, Washington has supplied a large number of arms to the island and passed the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act passed last year, authorising the US government to spend up to $2billion a year in military assistance.
