EXCLUSIVE: Furious China believes UK spies tracked one of its submarines by bugging a sailor’s Apple smartwatch before the ship became caught in one of Beijing’s underwater traps, killing everyone on board.
- PLAN 093-417 is understood to have sunk after hitting a Chinese trap in August
Paranoid officials in Beijing believe UK spies tracked a stricken submarine by bugging a sailor’s Apple smartwatch, according to Chinese dissidents.
The theory that ghosts followed Type 093, which became trapped with the loss of 55 lives, emerged as part of an investigation into the disaster.
The Mail revealed earlier this week how the ship was lost in the Yellow Sea on August 21 after colliding with a “chain and anchor” device intended to damage Western submarines.
China has denied that the incident occurred but, privately, British naval intelligence officers are convinced that it did. Officially, the UK Ministry of Defense has declined to comment.
Now, dissidents based outside China claim to have obtained copies of the Chinese Communist Party’s investigation, including Western interference.
A Chinese Type 093 nuclear submarine sank on August 21, killing all 55 people on board.
The sinking is understood to have taken place in waters off China’s Shandong province (pictured: a Chinese Type 094B nuclear-powered submarine)
The priority of President Xi Jinping’s officials appears to be blaming the West for interfering and spying on the operations of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).
One dissident told the Mail: ‘We received an update from the Central Military Commission. In the classified report, the PCC [Chinese Communist Party] It is believed that MI6 tapped the Apple watch of a high-ranking Navy officer in Guang Dong command and caused the leak of crash 093-417.
‘This report has been delivered to President Xi Jin Ping and the poor official has been arrested. They want to find a scapegoat with foreign connections. They believe the watch was used to record conversations about the submarine at a naval headquarters.
‘PLAN has installed ‘chains and anchors’ in the Yellow Sea, Philippine Sea and South China Sea and has successfully damaged the US nuclear submarine Connecticut and other vessels.’
The official American version of what happened to the USS Connecticut in October 2021 was that it suffered damage to its propulsion system after hitting an underwater mountain, rather than a man-made obstacle.
However, the accident report published by the US Navy did not provide the location of this natural accident: that information was classified.
The loss of the nuclear attack submarine is a serious blow to Chinese prestige, at a time when it is investing hundreds of billions of pounds in its armed forces.
The sinking of PLAN 093-417 is also the third largest loss of life aboard a submarine in maritime history. The worst accident was the sinking of the Russian ship Kursk in 2000, with the loss of 118 lives.
According to a British naval intelligence officer, the crew died of “hypoxia due to a submarine system failure that took six hours to repair.”
The officer added that “the oxygen system on board the submarine poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure.” Rescue efforts were apparently hampered by a storm.
British submarines are understood to include technology that absorbs carbon dioxide and generates oxygen in such a situation. Apparently, such equipment was not installed on the Chinese submarine.
The 093-417 is one of China’s six nuclear attack submarines and is armed with torpedoes and cruise missiles. It is 351 feet long, 30 feet wide and has a top speed of 30 knots.
The Chinese Navy is expected to expand to between 65 and 70 submarines by the end of this decade. This is part of a huge £1bn investment package by China in its navy between 2024 and 2028.
It reportedly already has the world’s largest surface fleet, made up of more than 340 warships, but it wants to build more sophisticated vessels, including more aircraft carriers, submarines and unmanned marine drones.
Xi Jinping toasts with leaders and guests during the anniversary celebration of the People’s Republic of China on September 28. China officially denied that the incident with the Type 093 submarine had occurred.
Western observers believe China aims to dominate the South China Sea and beyond by using its growing naval power and building bases on coral atolls.
China has militarized at least three islands, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems. These developments violated Beijing’s earlier promises not to do so.
