https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-navy-china-submarine-76ffcad6b050a81115e0738b0b23d477
Pakistan formally commissioned the first of eight Hangor-class submarines at a ceremony in the Chinese port city of Sanya, marking a landmark moment in its naval modernisation programme. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari attended as chief guest, calling the induction a historic milestone reflecting Pakistan’s resolve to maintain a credible defence posture and protect its maritime interests. The Hangor-class submarine is widely believed to be based on China’s Type 039A design, capable of carrying 38 crew members plus special forces, and equipped with torpedoes, anti-ship missiles, and air-independent propulsion. The remaining four submarines in the order will be built at the Karachi Shipyard, reflecting a deliberate technology transfer arrangement between Islamabad and Beijing. Pakistani Navy chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf linked the commissioning directly to disruptions at maritime chokepoints, citing threats to global trade and energy security.
This commissioning is strategically significant on multiple levels. First, it represents a concrete and visible deepening of the China-Pakistan defence relationship at a moment when regional tensions are elevated across the Indo-Pacific. Second, the technology transfer arrangement, with four submarines to be built in Karachi, is not merely a weapons purchase but a deliberate effort to build indigenous Pakistani naval manufacturing capacity, echoing the same logic behind India’s own defence export push. Third, the naming of the class after the PNS Hangor, the submarine that sank an Indian warship in 1971, is a deliberate signal to New Delhi about the submarine’s intended strategic purpose. Admiral Ashraf’s reference to chokepoint disruptions, likely a reference to the Hormuz crisis as well as the broader Indian Ocean competition, signals that Pakistan views this capability as relevant not just to India but to the wider maritime environment. The ceremony’s location in Sanya, a major Chinese naval base, underscores how deep the operational integration between the two navies has become.
Pakistan will accelerate the induction of the remaining seven submarines and use the Karachi Shipyard arrangement to build domestic naval expertise, likely seeking future joint development agreements with China. China gains a strategically positioned partner with growing naval reach across the Arabian Sea, complementing its own Indian Ocean presence and Belt and Road maritime investments. India will view the commissioning with concern, likely accelerating its own submarine programme and naval modernisation while deepening defence ties with the United States, France, and other partners. The United States will monitor the growing China-Pakistan naval relationship closely and may use it as justification for expanded arms sales and security partnerships with India and other regional states. Gulf states, already anxious about the Hormuz crisis, will watch the shifting balance of naval power in the Arabian Sea with considerable attention.
This connects to the concept of the security dilemma. Pakistan’s naval expansion, framed entirely in defensive terms, will nonetheless be perceived by India as a threat requiring a response. India’s response will in turn be perceived by Pakistan as threatening, creating a cycle of competitive military build-up that leaves both sides less secure despite each acting rationally from its own perspective. It also connects to alliance politics and multipolarity. The China-Pakistan partnership is one node in an emerging multipolar order in which states are increasingly choosing sides in a broader US-China competition. Pakistan’s deepening military integration with Beijing, combined with India’s growing alignment with Washington, is gradually hardening the lines of a new regional rivalry, one being fought not just on land but increasingly beneath the waves of the Indian Ocean.