CHINA'S menacing military submarine designed for carrying nuclear warheads has been seen surfacing in the Taiwan Strait.
The 11,000 ton humpback sub appeared alongside several other warships as Chinese President Xi Jinping continues to ramp up his nuclear arsenal at a blistering pace.
The Chinese People's Liberation Navy sub was said to have surfaced near a group of fishermen in a popular fishing district at around 5am on Thursday morning.
The huge "Jin class" vessel was seen along the median line of the Taiwan Strait with reports from Taiwanese media saying it looked in "distress".
The Type 094 nuclear sub slowly came up to the surface where it sat still on the water for several minutes, claim the locals.
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A second Chinese ship swiftly arrived as it appeared to help the sub as they both drifted off moments later towards mainland China.
More military vessels were later seen completing the journey around the humpback sub, it has been reported.
It is unclear what the issue with the powerful sub was or if it was armed at the time.
Pictures show a mammoth submarine floating partly on the surface of the Taiwan Strait.
The giant vessel is said to cost a whopping $750million (£590m) and comes in at a length of 135metres.
Only six of the quiet and stealthy vessels exist, according to China.
They are dubbed humpback subs for their distinctly designed hull which can store up to 12 nuclear missiles.
President Xi has been overseeing a rapid rise in China's nuclear arsenal in recent months.
Fears are increasing over what China is stockpiling the terrifying weapons for with them set to have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the US and Russia by 2030.
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Beijing has produced almost 100 nuclear warheads in the past 12 months with them now having over 500 in their surging arsenal, say Swedish think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Associate senior fellow at SIPRI, Hans M. Kristensen, said: “China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country."
The SIPRI report gives a rare insight into Beijing's war prowess as Xi continues to stay quiet on his nuclear capabilities.
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg responded to the worrying rise in China's military rise by announcing the alliance is in talks to deploy more nuclear weapons in the coming years.
Mr Stoltenberg also voiced his continued concerns over Putin's Russia and North Korea.
He revealed to the Telegraph that Nato members had been speaking on the potential of taking missiles out of storage and putting them on standby as a last resort.
Mr Stoltenberg said: “I won’t go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads should be operational and which should be stored, but we need to consult on these issues.
“That’s exactly what we’re doing at Nato, for instance at meetings in Nato, a nuclear planning group as we had during the defence ministerial meeting this [last] week.
“Nato’s aim is, of course, a world without nuclear weapons, but as long as nuclear weapons exist, we will remain a nuclear alliance, because a world where Russia, China and North Korea have nuclear weapons, and Nato does not, is a more dangerous world.”
CHINA VS TAIWAN
President Xi has also told the world his fearless People’s Liberation Army will become a world-class military by 2049.
One of his first shows of power could be to dominate and reclaim Taiwan by force in as little as three years time.
China has lurked around Taiwan for decades with threats of an invasion ramping up in recent months.
Beijing considers the self-governing island its own domain and has vowed to take Taiwan if they refuse to cooperate.
A chilling message was sent to Taiwan’s government in May saying they were heading towards "a perilous situation of war and danger"
At the end of May, Beijing launched worrying military drills surrounding Taiwan’s isolated territory.
Dozens of warplanes filled the skies above Taiwan as an armada stormed towards its shores in a WW3-style mock invasion.
The unprecedented move was viewed as “a strong punishment for separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces”.
The threatening advancements continued for over 24 hours with another 27 warships and 62 warplanes seen completely blockading the island deep into Friday.
Taiwan condemned the military drills as "irrational provocations".
It quickly mobilised its naval, air and ground forces to "defend the island's sovereignty," the defence ministry said.
