Video of Smoke Rising From Chinese Warship Sparks Debate Over Malfunction, Quality Issues

Tourists line up to visit a submarine at the Qingdao Naval Museum in Qingdao of Shandong Province, China, on May 3, 2006. China Photos/Getty Images

News Analysis

A video showing smoke billowing from a Chinese military vessel recently garnered a lot of attention on social media while the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) leadership remains silent about the incident.

Netizens and experts speculate the warship had an accident or malfunction, underscoring quality problems in China’s military weapons and equipment.

The video, posted on Weibo on Nov. 21 and then shared among various social media platforms, shows a warship, several nautical miles offshore, engulfed in dense black smoke emanating from three hull parts: the main gun, carrier cabin, and stern. The vessel’s location was undisclosed.

Some netizens speculated that a malfunction may have caused the smoke or a fire broke out in the ship for unknown reasons.

As of Nov. 27, Beijing has not offered an explanation on the matter.

The Epoch Times could not independently verify the video’s authenticity, including details such as when and where it was recorded or whether it resulted from an accident.

In an interview with the publication’s Chinese language edition on Nov. 24, Yao Cheng—a former lieutenant colonel in the Chinese navy now residing in the United States—identified the ship as the Longhushan Type 071, an amphibious transport dock ship of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). Type 071 is one of the crucial components of the CCP’s military deployment in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea.

U.S.-based current affairs commentator Chen Pokong surmised that something unusual had taken place on the warship; the smoke may have been caused by “either an explosion and fire or a disgruntled officer or soldier inside the ship.”

Another possible explanation, Mr. Yao said, is that the Chinese naval fleet was using a smokescreen to conduct a maritime firefighting rescue exercise.

However, regardless of whether the ship caught on fire or carried out a drill, the CCP’s silence led to more suspicion among the public, according to U.S.-based political analyst Lu Tianming.

Mr. Lu told the publication that outsiders can’t find the truth regarding such military incidents due to the authorities’ lack of transparency.

But even if the military issued an official statement about the Type 071 submarine, the public might not believe it because “the communist leadership is full of lies from top to bottom, and the truth was covered up layer by layer,” he added.

Quality Issues

The CCP military authorities have long been opaque regarding maritime incidents. For example, in August, a Type 093 nuclear-powered submarine exploded and sank in the Yellow Sea, resulting in the deaths of 55 Chinese sailors. The Daily Mail published an exclusive report on the incident based on a highly classified UK defense intelligence source, but Chinese state media stayed mum.

Beijing denied the incident happened and appeared to “refuse to request international assistance for its stricken submarine,” the UK report said.

“The submarine hit a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese Navy to trap US and allied submarines. This resulted in systems failures that took six hours to repair and surface the vessel. The onboard oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure,” the UK intelligence report said, cited by The Daily Mail.

Soon after the incident, Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, emphasized at a conference that the quality of military equipment should be improved based on “being responsible for the lives of the officers and soldiers.”

Mr. Yao pointed out the quality problem that resulted in the accident. “Type 093 is manufactured domestically, and its performance is subpar, so it is not unusual for it to experience malfunctions.” He believes there was a problem with the air circulation system inside the submarine, which affected the safety of the personnel.

According to state media People.cn, the Type 093 is the Chinese navy’s second generation of nuclear-powered attack submarines, with a submerged displacement of 6,000 tons, an overall length of 106 meters, a body width of 11 meters, and a maximum diving depth of 400 meters.

Dock Landing Warship

The Type 071 dock landing ship is reportedly 210 meters long and 28 meters wide and has a maximum displacement of over 29,000 tons. Longhushan is the fifth ship of the class and the largest amphibious warship designed and built domestically.

According to Mr. Yao, the CCP owns 10 Type 071 ships; it also has Type 075 and Type 076 amphibious attack ships. Among them, Type 075 ranks second to aircraft carriers regarding tonnage. In addition, he said, the regime has tank landing ships such as Type 072, Type 073, Type 074, and others. He added that all these ships add up to about 83, and Beijing plans to build 100 such enormous landers.

The former Chinese navy officer said the Type 071 could carry a Marine Corps battalion and accommodate eight land and water tanks; it is also known as an armored landing ship, mainly used to carry heavy equipment. With a displacement of 25,000 tons unladen and 29,000 tons fully loaded, it is second only to the Type 075 and Type 076 among the landing ships, Mr. Yao said.

The Type 075’s function is the same as that of an anchored ship, except for its capability of carrying more helicopters. It can accommodate four hovercraft, which can fly at low altitudes in ground-effect conditions in the sea for beach washing, Mr. Yao said.

Limitations of China’s Aircraft Carriers

In June 2021, a satellite photo of the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong went viral. The image showed a “robust wear of the flight deck around the launch position blast deflectors and on the landing strip,” wrote Alex Luck, a contributor to Naval News.

China's sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, arrives in Hong Kong waters on July 7, 2017. Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images

The Shandong was designed and constructed using the Liaoning as a blueprint. The Liaoning, the first aircraft carrier of the Chinese navy, was commissioned in 2012. However, it was converted from the Varyag, a Soviet-built aircraft carrier that Ukraine had decommissioned.

Chinese military experts have raised concerns about Liaoning’s operational capacity. The carrier’s slow speed and limited meteorological responsiveness pose challenges for aircraft takeoff. Furthermore, hidden issues in its steel performance make it unsuitable for intense conflicts.

The U.S. Department of Defense stated in its 2015 report on China’s military power that the Liaoning and its fighters, when fully operational, would still have difficulty in long-range warfare. “The LIAONING’s smaller size limits the number of aircraft it can embark, while the ski-jump configuration limits restrict fuel and ordnance load,” the report reads.

In July 2017, the Liaoning entered Hong Kong waters. Huang Dong, a Macau-based military expert, told Hong Kong’s now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily at that time that “details determine success or failure,” referring to the poor maintenance of the Liaoning carrier as he noted the red anticorrosive paint below the waterline on the carrier’s hull showed signs of flaking and rusting.

Xin Ning contributed to this report.