Until now, a Chinese landing on Taiwan’s shores would have been prohibitive. Taipei’s forces have skillfully fortified the few ideal landing sites on their island. The resourceful and tireless Chinese, however, seem to have achieved the previously impossible.
Taiwan’s west coast, facing China, has relatively few beaches or harbors where an invasion is easy, and these areas are relatively well-guarded. However, the Chinese have carefully studied historical amphibious operations, such as the Falklands War in 1982 and the Normandy landings in 1944.
China has managed to build special barges that would theoretically allow China to choose other areas on Taiwan’s coast that may be more inaccessible but less protected from which to land Chinese troops.
China recently unveiled the barges, warning that they could play a potential role in an attack. “This equipment is a bridge and a port combined into one,” Chinese defense analyst Wei Dongxu said of the barges on a television show.
Once China gains air and sea dominance, he said, ships loaded with military vehicles could dock at the barges and unload the vehicles, allowing the heavy equipment to land. “Once they appear, it means the landing will be a major victory.”
How do they work?
The barges operate in sets of three, with the largest barge reaching a length of 185 m, and the smallest 110 m. The legs of the boats, when lowered, pin the barges in place and can push the reefs up and over the water, for stability. Each barge also has a tower at the front – with a telescope – on a bridge, connecting it to the next barge or to the shore.
The barges form a pier where ships lined up alongside the barges could unload vehicles. The vehicles could then drive directly along the pier to the shore.
“The Impossible Becomes Possible”
It is recalled that in a possible Chinese attack, the US could send forces to help Taiwan. Before any attempt by China to land in large numbers – possibly by barge – the first wave of invasion troops could face fierce battles in the straits and on Taiwan.
However, the three landing barges detected by satellites showed that China’s armed forces have quickly developed ways to overcome the logistical obstacles of a possible invasion.
Given the scale of the improvements in infrastructure and capabilities that the Chinese have made, such as landing barges, the impossible until yesterday is becoming possible for the Chinese.
These barges will open up new locations to deliver troops and equipment for Xi Jinping to choose from” along Taiwan’s coast. He estimates that in a day the barges could unload hundreds of armored vehicles.
China still doesn’t have enough of these naval vessels to attack Taiwan’s main island on its own. But when you add specialized dual-purpose ships and cargo ships, “then that changes.” “Then you start to have enough vessels to be able to quickly deliver a battalion to the shore.”
In training
The People’s Liberation Army is likely to further test the new barges in larger military exercises, likely later this year.
They usually conduct trials through exercises before they officially enter mass production. Their direction has been set – how to overcome all the difficulties that could trouble a joint landing operation.
During recent military exercises, it took several hours for the transport ships to dock at the mobile pier, even with the help of tugs. On March 25, one ship appeared to give up trying to dock at the pier where two other ships were already docked. It succeeded the next day and was joined by a small tanker used to refuel the self-propelled barges, making a total of four ships docked at the same time.
