Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Why China is Developing Military Vessels at the Center of its Coronavirus
Outbreak

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - As Chinacontinues torecoverfrom COVID-19, the city
   where the now global disease began is stepping up ship production for
   military and commercialpurposes as part of its broader economic
   recovery, domestic media and experts say.

   A state-owned builder of ships and submarines in Wuhan has worked
   overtime since March 3, the Chinese state-controlledGlobal Timesnews
   website reportedlast week. Thefacility of theChina State Shipbuilding
   Corp. is "making up for time lost during the city's lockdown" and
   keeping an "undisclosed major project" on track, the website said.

   China looks to Wuhan, where the COVID-19 coronavirus surfaced in
   December, as a key site for building vessels for the People's
   Liberation Army Navy, said Collin Koh, maritime security research
   fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

   Factories in the central Chinese industrial hub turn out submarines for
   export, for example,to Pakistan and Thailand, he added.

   "Wuhan is a key industrial city when it comes to indigenous production
   for the PLA modernization,as well as the fact that when you talk about
   exports of submarines, this is increasingly going to become a crown
   jewel of China's present and future arms export," Koh said.

   In that vein, Chinese defense contractor Wuchang Shipbuilding
   IndustryCo. built a complex 10 years ago on 3.3 square kilometers in
   Wuhan, U.S.-based defense research organization GlobalSecurity.org
   says. The site has "made significant contribution to the updating of
   the naval equipment and national defense of China," GlobalSecurity.org
   says.

   Wuchang Shipbuilding let its second wave of workers back on the job
   March 26 for a factory reopening a day later, theGlobal Timesreport
   says. The subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp. makes ships and
   submarines.

   Despite Wuhan's location 840 kilometers from the sea, completed ships
   reach the Chinese coastline via the Yangtze River.

.