Nicky has raised the issue:
"Hi Pete, What's your take on China gifting Myanmar the Type035B Ming class Submarine. Even though the submarine is an old design from the old soviet Romeo class Submarine. Do they still have any value in the submarine community today."
The Bay of Bengal. A focus of strategic competition between small navies newly (or soon to be) supplied with Chinese submarines. The Bay is also an arena of competition between the large Indian and Chinese navies.
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- justifies a long term naval and military intelligence presence of Chinese advisers (particularly Chinese engineer and other officers) who need to be present on the submarine at sea while justifying additional Chinese advisers at Myanmar shore bases.
- this training sub might generate sale of Chinese submarines to Myanmar for further Chinese intelligence iopportunities, power projection and profit. These future subs would be used operationally.
- is a response to China's strategic competitor India's March 2020 provision of the old Sindhughosh/Kilo-class submarine, to Myanmar. That sub is the former INS Sindhuvir (S58) renamed UMS Minye Theinkhathu in Myanmar service, also used for training.[30][31][33]
- creates Chinese built submarine competition with other small navies, namely:
: Bangladesh with the two Type 035s China supplied in 2016 and
: Thailand. China is supplying three expert spec Yuans (designated S26Ts to
Thailand. This is noting Thailand's east coast Gulf of Thailand is too shallow for
daytime operations. Thailand's Yuan variants will likely spend more time operating in the
deeper waters of Andaman Sea/Bay of Bengal off Thailand's west coast.
: Bangladesh with the two Type 035s China supplied in 2016 and
: Thailand. China is supplying three expert spec Yuans (designated S26Ts to
Thailand. This is noting Thailand's east coast Gulf of Thailand is too shallow for
daytime operations. Thailand's Yuan variants will likely spend more time operating in the
deeper waters of Andaman Sea/Bay of Bengal off Thailand's west coast.
The subs provided to Bangladesh and now Myanmar, with some Chinese trainer officers on board, provides extra opportunities in the Bay of Bengal for China to spy on Indian submarines entering and leaving India's main east coast/Bay of Bengal submarine/naval base at Visakhapatnam aka Vizag.
Creation of submarine competition by selling subs to strategic competitors can be a very lucrative dynamic for submarine building companies/countries. Germany's TKMS selling Type 209, 212 and or 214 subs is a case in point in creating Mediterranean Sea competition. In the Mediterranean TKMS has built or supplied submarine parts for the navies of Greece vs Turkey. Egypt and again Turkey vs Israel, also Portugal and supplying designs and parts for Italy.
China has the growing political influence and industrial muscle to increasingly create regional markets amongst strategic competitors.