A U.S. think tank said on Thursday (April 7) that a contract between China's largest state-owned shipbuilding company and Taiwan's largest shipping company could reduce the cost of upgrading China's navy, posing a threat to the island of Taiwan claimed by Beijing. Security concerns.
China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is an important shipyard for China's rapidly expanding People's Liberation Army Navy ships. CSSC is believed to be building China's third aircraft carrier.
Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corp has purchased 44 ships from mainland China since 2018, all but two of which were from production, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report. Ordered by Chinese naval shipyards, including CSSC.
The Washington-based think tank said some foreign companies, including those from countries such as France, an ally of the United States, also bought ships from CSSC. The U.S. has blacklisted CSSC for investments by U.S. individuals and companies because of its ties to the Chinese military.
While there is limited transparency on the flow of foreign capital in China's shipbuilding industry, CSIS said, "the available evidence suggests that profits from foreign orders are likely to reduce the cost of China's naval upgrades."
The foreign contracts, CSIS said, are "significant" to some democracies in the region. is a "real threat to national security" and said companies should consider U.S. allies South Korea and Japan as alternative shipbuilding partners.
Democratic-governed Taiwan has long complained of increased military pressure from Beijing. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
The CSIS study included commercial satellite imagery from February 2022 showing at least three Evergreen hulls under construction near China's newest aircraft carrier, at Jiangnan Shipyard, a subsidiary of CSSC, near Shanghai. The Evergreen ship is also docked alongside Chinese naval cruisers and destroyers.
The images "indicate direct resource sharing between military and civilian operations at major Chinese shipyards," CSIS said.
Evergreen said in a statement that all its containership projects were subject to international tenders and that the contracts between Evergreen and CSSC's commercial shipbuilding division were "completely different and independent" from those of CSSC's military shipbuilding division.
"We do not believe that the construction activities of civilian commercial vessels have anything to do with national naval projects," added Evergreen, which disclosed information about the order to investors and authorities.
China already has the largest navy in the world, with more warships and submarines than the United States.
Taiwan rejects China's claims of sovereignty and says only the people of Taiwan can decide their own future.