Chinese n-submarines: Cabinet security panel to meet, Navy chief to brief NSA Narayanan

NEW DELHI, MAY 3:Caught on the backfoot over the extent of development of Sanya strategic facilities by China on Hainan Island in South China Sea, the UPA government is expected to convene a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) shortly with Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta preparing a detailed brief for National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan.
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Government sources confirmed to The Sunday Express that Admiral Mehta, who returned from his US trip on Friday night, would be briefed by Navy’s intelligence and operational chiefs on Monday, after which the strategic implications would be taken up with Narayanan.
Although the Indian Navy and Narayanan were aware of the Sanya naval facility on Hainan Island, the presence of four access tunnels on the mouth of the deep water base has come as a rude shock as it has serious strategic ramifications in the Indian Ocean.
The Defence Ministry had purchased satellite photographs of Hainan Island from Quickbird Satellite and had briefed the three armed forces chiefs as well as Narayanan, but it did not have the latest images that show the extent of development at Sanya.
The access tunnels mean that China is expected to deploy its JL-2 ballistic missile equipped type 094 class submarines at the Sanya base in a bid to project power in South China Sea and North Asia. The Chinese Navy has already one proven nuclear submarine (type 094), two are under trials and the last one is in the building stage.
The JL-2 missile has a range of 7,200 km though Rand Corporation reports that China has modified the range to 12,800 km. This is in sharp contrast to India, which is expected to launch its first nuclear submarine from Vishakapatnam at the end of this year.
With Russia acting tough on the Admiral Gorshkov carrier, the date of the proposed lease of Akula class nuclear submarine from Moscow is not yet clear.
But the contrast does not end here: China’s defence budget this year touched $197 billion as compared to $26 billion for the Indian armed forces; China has 492 shipyards, India has only five. And the Indian defence budget this year was increased only by 1.97 per cent.
With China focusing on a sea-based doctrine since 1996, New Delhi is also worried about the Chinese Woody Islands base in Parcel Islands. After forcing Vietnam out of Parcel Islands during the 1974 invasions, China has been building an air facility there with a strategic aim to project power more than 1,800 miles in the coming decades.
Armed with no less than 40 amphibious warships, the Chinese Navy is well on its way to acquire expeditionary capability, which will be a serious security concern to not only India but also to Japan, US and South Korea in the coming years.