The Navy Commander said that he had done his best, indicating that the future of ‘submarines’ is in the hands of the government.

Parliament, "Commander of the Royal Thai Navy" points out that the future of "submarines" is in the hands of the government, saying that they have done their best, clearly clarifying that they were not deceived by China, if they fail, 10 years will be wasted, the Royal Thai Navy is at the bottom of ASEAN. Admiral Adung Pan-iam, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy, explained the progress of the submarine procurement project to the Special Committee on the Consideration of the Draft Budget Act for Fiscal Year 2025, saying that he had wanted to clarify for a long time. He confirmed that in the year we signed the contract, China had the right to produce and sell German MTU engines, so the contract was signed. Some people misunderstood that China was deceiving us. He wanted to make it clear. When there was this problem, he did not know what to do. China tried its best to find a solution. He confirmed that the Chinese engines were equivalent to the German MTU engines and insisted that there was nothing comp licated. We did not buy a ship without an engine. It would be impossible. He was joking. On the day the contract was signed, no one was at fault. China did not know, but we solved the problem as best we could. The Navy Commander said that the next submarines will be complete by now. The current status, immediately after Mr. Suthin Khlangsaeng took the position of Defense Minister, took 8 months because he was afraid of going to jail. A committee was set up to support him and related agencies were asked until the answer was given for the Navy to move forward. Now, they are in the process of signing the proposal to the Cabinet to await approval. Admiral Adung emphasized that as the commander of the navy, he wanted the best submarine to protect sovereignty and maintain interests. The navy knows the whole world that the best thing is a submarine. It is not that we want it because everyone else has it, but they have it because they want it. The best thing is the same for us. We do not want it for anything. We wa nt to do our best and in the past 10 years, we have done everything to prepare for this submarine. If we do not get the submarine, it will be 10 years of wasted time for the navy and we will fall to the bottom of ASEAN. I can wait to get one submarine even if it will leave the navy with nothing because one submarine has high bargaining power. We need to use many surface ships to fight against it. 'China did not deceive us and we were not deceived by China every day. We are trying to solve the problem as best we can, which is to move forward because we have already invested 80% in construction. Suddenly, they just threw it all away. Buying a new one is not as easy as we thought. China did not promise to get back the 7 billion baht we paid. Moreover, China did nothing wrong, but they compensated us because the navy lost an opportunity, totaling more than 200 million baht. What remains is up to the government's discretion whether to let the navy move forward or not. I am doing my best as the navy,' said the nav y commander. Source: Thai News Agency