China enhances naval capabilities for potential Taiwan invasion
The Chinese navy is expanding its landing forces. In addition to developing solutions that allow the use of civilian ferries for a potential invasion of Taiwan or constructing new transport ships, China is also building new, specialized units. Their task will be to transport heavy equipment across marshy, sandy beaches.
Although the threat of a mainland Chinese invasion of Taiwan has been a concern for decades, effectively executing such an invasion has long been beyond Beijing's capabilities. Simulations have shown that one of the main challenges is the lack of means to transport troops and equipment across the water.
As a result, the first invasion wave, deployed from ships or helicopters, would likely be too weak to maintain footholds on the coast until landing ships could return to the mainland to deliver more forces.
For years, China has been exploring ways to overcome this obstacle. One approach is the construction of special ramps that allow civilian ferries to be used for invasion purposes, which significantly increases transport capabilities.
Landing ships with bridges
According to Defence 24, unusual construction activities have also been noted at the Guangzhou shipyard. These include landing ships equipped with long, 394-foot bridges.
The bridges are built with additional supports so that - when unfolded - they can rest on the ground, resulting in the formation of a stable bridge connecting the ship's deck with the solid ground beyond the beach.
Invasion of Taiwan
This solution facilitates the landing of heavy equipment on the shore, allowing it - thanks to the bridges - to avoid landing on marshy beaches by passing over them, and descending from the landing ship directly onto firm ground.
This innovation allows China to bypass the issue of needing to capture at least one Taiwanese port to transfer heavy equipment to the island. With these new ships, in the event of an invasion of Taiwan, there would be no necessity for unloading at a port dock, as heavy equipment could be landed directly on the island.
