TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President-elect Lai Ching-te (賴清德) is reportedly favoring the construction of Taiwan's seven planned domestically-built submarines "all at once."

Lai, whose inauguration takes place on May 20, reportedly inspected the prototype submarine Narwhal during a tour with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), per FTV News. He also expressed that the subsequent seven submarines should be constructed simultaneously, rather than in batches.

In early March, Tsai and Lai appeared together at the commissioning ceremony for the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Yunlin frigate. It was the first time a president and vice president jointly attended a commissioning ceremony for a domestically built naval vessel, which carries significant symbolic importance in terms of the transition of power.

It was reported that on the same day, following their meeting, the two promptly conducted a secret inspection of the prototype submarine, the Narwhal, and received a confidential briefing. At that time, Admiral Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光), chief of the general staff and convener of the Indigenous Defense Submarine (IDS) program, and representatives from Taiwan's shipbuilding industry proposed various plans for the construction of the subsequent seven submarines, such as "3+2+2" or "2+3+2" batch construction methods.

With the inauguration approaching, Tsai has entrusted Lai with the decision-making authority. Lai reportedly instructed "If we're going to do it, let's do it all at once," which was interpreted by observers as giving a green light to mass production.

This decision may also indicate that the safety and combat capabilities of the Narwhal prototype are up to the expected standards.