Thailand’s purchase of Chinese submarines is in danger of collapse

The Thai Navy signed a contract worth 13.5 billion baht ($403 million) with China’s CSOC Shipbuilding Company to buy a diesel-electric submarine class Nguyen S26T in 2017, with the expected handover time at the end of 2023.

Under the contract, the submarine will be equipped with the MTU396 diesel engine of the German manufacturer MUT Friedrichshafen. However, Thai media in February reported that the German side refused to sell engines to China, forcing CSOC to stop building the ship. Nikkei Asia April 12th.

A Chinese Yuan-class submarine Screenshot USNI news

According to the announcement of the German embassy in Thailand in February, China did not inform Germany in advance about using engines for submarines, but signed a contract with Thailand.

The European Union banned its members from exporting arms to China, a measure enacted after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

To remove difficulties, the Chinese side proposed to amend the contract and replace the German engine with a Chinese-made MWM 620 engine. CSOC emphasized that this engine has the same standard as the MTU396 but the Thai navy disagrees, according to the newspaper Bangkok Post.

Sheet Nikkei Asia April 12 quoted a Thai navy spokesman as saying that China had not informed Thailand directly about the replacement. “We requested the delivery of submarines with German engines as contracted,” the spokesman said.

Navy Commander ThailandAdmiral Somprasong Nilsamai on April 2 stressed that China must comply with the submarine contract signed with the navy and there are no changes from the original agreement.

On April 8, Mr. Nilsamai said that the two sides would work to remove the entanglement. However, he declined to answer whether Thailand would accept a submarine powered by an engine made by another company. Mr. Nilsamai said no decision would be made until after negotiations later this month.

Earlier, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha announced that he had instructed the navy to do its best to fulfill the contract as agreed, but warned that if China did not complete the agreement, the contract would be cancelled.

The value of China’s arms exports to Thailand increased five-fold between 2014 and 2018 (after Prayuth became prime minister), compared with the previous five-year period, according to the Institute for International Peace Studies. Stockholm (Sweden). Epidemic Covid-19 slowed down this growth.

The Thai government used to plan buy 2 more submarines of China, but was forced to postpone this plan in 2020 due to public reaction, calling to prioritize economic reconstruction.

Scholar about military Paul Chambers at Naresuan University (Thailand) said Bangkok has increased military cooperation with Beijing in recent years but the submarine contract is hindering bilateral relations. “The submarine contract has become a thorn in the side of the relationship between Thailand and China. It is likely to affect the military procurement relationship between the two countries,” Mr. Chambers commented.