China's new tech: Potential military edge heightens Taiwan tensions
Giant barges and devices for cutting underwater cables at record depths — these are China's latest technological achievements. Some experts question their potential military uses amidst rising tensions around Taiwan.
While these new tools may have civilian applications, analysts point to China’s expanding military and technological capabilities. Pressure on Taiwan is increasing as Beijing views it as part of its territory, which it may take by force if necessary. China already sends fighter jets and warships near the island almost daily and conducts increasingly frequent military exercises to intimidate what it calls Taiwan's "separatist forces," CNN reports in its analysis.
Recordings of landing barges briefly appeared and then quickly disappeared from Chinese social media. The footage depicted three enormous units anchored at a sandy beach, connected by bridges to form a giant pier extending over 800 metres from the shore. CNN's geolocation analysis confirmed that the footage comes from a public beach near Zhanjiang, a port city in Guangdong province, where the South Sea Fleet headquarters of the Chinese navy is located.
"I have never seen anything like what we’re seeing here"
Defence experts J. Michael Dahm and Thomas Shugart described these barges as a "significant upgrade" in the Chinese army's landing capabilities. In the event of an invasion of Taiwan, they could form a movable bridge, allowing the delivery of a large quantity of tanks, armoured vehicles, and other heavy equipment after gaining artillery superiority.
"The innovation really is the volume that they could potentially put onto a remote beach or a damaged port or an austere landing area, probably in excess of hundreds of vehicles per hour, if they chose to do that," said a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer in an interview with CNN.
A former U.S. submarine officer noted that these barges add to the growing list of innovative platforms, munitions, and weapon systems China has tested recently. "There’s nothing like them in the West. I have never seen anything like what we’re seeing here," he said.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defence assessed the new barges as designed with an extendable ramp to serve as a makeshift dock, enabling the rapid unloading of main battle tanks and various vehicles supporting landing operations.
According to Su Tzu-yun, director at the Institute for National Defense Security Research in Taiwan, the barges could provide the Chinese army with a strategic advantage by creating makeshift landing points on the coast, especially if Taiwan destroys its own ports as a self-defence measure during an invasion.
Such barges have six or eight hydro feet that can lift them out of the water to create a stable platform, and then they can create a bridge from shallow water to a deeper area, Su explained.
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China also possesses another tool — it is a cable cutter capable of cutting heavily reinforced communication and power lines at depths of up to 4,000 metres, nearly double the depth of the world's deepest undersea cable.
The construction description was published in the Chinese magazine "Mechanical Engineer."
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Experts say a device capable of cutting cables at record depths and with high efficiency is not alarming by itself.
"But what is alarming here is the political context that we attach to it," one of the scientists quoted by CNN noted. He also pointed out recent incidents of undersea cables being damaged involving Chinese ships around Taiwan and in the Baltic Sea.
The army ready on Jinping's orders. it may happen in 2027
There is concern that in the event of an invasion, China could sever the undersea cables around Taiwan, causing panic among the population and potentially disrupting the island's military communication with the U.S. and other partners.
American officials believe that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered the Chinese army to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, although they emphasize that this does not necessarily mean an invasion will occur in 2027.
"In the context of all of the other improvements that we’re seeing to PLA capabilities and especially to PLA infrastructure, the barges are just the shiny object that draws attention to the fact that the PLA is making these preparations to be prepared to act on Xi Jinping’s orders in the next several years, if called upon to do so," concludes an expert quoted by CNN.
