China has delayed construction of an attack submarine for Thailand’s navy. A Thai naval official says Germany refuses to export the engines needed to finish the submarine to China. The delay could hurt Thailand’s military relations with China, which has replaced the United States as Thailand’s biggest arms supplier. The Royal Thai Navy and China’s state-owned China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Company, or CSOC, signed the $402 million deal for the submarine in 2017. Thailand was expected to receive the submarine by the end of next year. Local media reported in February that construction of what would be the country’s first submarine had stopped. Rear Admiral Apichai Sompolgrunk is director general of the Thai navy’s purchasing office. He told VOA that the submarine was unlikely to arrive next year. “Right now, the process of building the submarine is stuck because the engine is not concluded yet,” he said. Apichai said the deal involved three diesel engines from Germany’s Motor and Turbine Union (MTU) company to run the submarine’s electrical system. Philipp Doert is a German representative to Thailand. He wrote about his government’s decision to deny China the engines in a letter to The Bangkok Post newspaper in February. “The export was refused because of its use for a Chinese military/defense industry item,” he wrote. “China did not ask/coordinate with Germany before signing the Thai-China contract, offering German MTU engines as part of their product.”
