无可奉告 在一次新闻发布会上，外交部发言人相当温和地讨论了361的事故，只是说这艘潜艇“在我长山以东领海进行训练，机上70名官兵因机械故障全部遇难”。 并没有提供进一步的细节。 发言人解释说，361 号潜艇是在例行巡逻，“361 号潜艇是人民海军的重大损失，排除了任何不正当行为的说法。 我们向在执行训练任务中不幸遇难的潜艇全体官兵表示沉痛哀悼，向遇难官兵亲属表示诚挚慰问。”
How Did China’s Navy Lose a Diesel-Electric Submarine in 2003?: On April 25, 2003, the crew of a Chinese fishing boat noticed a strange sight—a periscope drifting listlessly above the surface of the water. The fishermen notified the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) which promptly dispatched two vessels to investigate.
At first, the PLAN believed the contact to be an intruding submarine from South Korea or Japan. But when Chinese personnel finally recovered the apparent derelict they realized it was one of their own diesel-electric submarines, the Ming-class 361
