China's giant barges raise military concerns amidst Taiwan tensions
Giant barges and devices for cutting underwater cables at record depths are the latest technological achievements from China. Some experts have raised questions about their potential military applications amid escalating tensions around Taiwan.
While these new tools may have civilian applications, analysts point to China's growing military and technological capabilities. Pressure on Taiwan is mounting as Beijing considers it part of its own territory and has announced it may take it by force if necessary. China regularly sends fighter jets and warships near the island and conducts increasingly frequent military exercises to intimidate what it calls Taiwan's "separatist forces," CNN reports in its analysis.
Recordings of landing barges appeared and quickly disappeared from Chinese social media. They showed three enormous units anchored on a sandy beach, connected by bridges to form one giant pier extending over 2,625 feet from the shore. CNN's geolocation analysis confirmed that the footage was taken at a public beach near Zhanjiang, a port city in Guangdong province, where the headquarters of the South Sea Fleet of the Chinese navy is located.
"I have never seen anything like what we’re seeing here"
Defense experts J. Michael Dahm and Thomas Shugart described these barges as a "significant upgrade" in the landing capabilities of the Chinese military. In the event of a Taiwan invasion, they could form a movable bridge, facilitating the delivery of large quantities of tanks, armored vehicles, and other heavy equipment once artillery superiority is established.
"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," a retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer said in an interview with CNN.
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A former U.S. submarine officer noted that the barges add to a growing list of innovative platforms, munitions, and weapon systems tested by the Chinese military in recent years. "There’s nothing like them in the West. I have never seen anything like what we’re seeing here," he remarked.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense stated that it assessed the new barges as being 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 and Security Research in Taiwan, the barges could provide the Chinese military with a strategic advantage by creating makeshift landing points along the coast, especially if Taiwan destroys its own ports as part of its self-defense strategy in the event of 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.
Did China practice cable-cutting in the Baltic?
China also possesses a cable cutter capable of slicing heavily reinforced communication and power lines at depths of up to 13,123 feet, nearly twice the depth of the world's deepest undersea cable. The construction details were published in the Chinese magazine "Mechanical Engineer."
Experts note that a device capable of cutting cables at such record depths and with high efficiency isn't alarming on its own.
"But what is alarming here is the political context that we attach to it," noted one of the scientists quoted by CNN. He also cited recent incidents of undersea cables being damaged involving Chinese ships around Taiwan and in the Baltic Sea.
The military is ready on Jinping's orders; it may happen in 2027
The concern is that in the event of an invasion, China could cut 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 military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027, though they emphasize this does not 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," an expert quoted by CNN summarized.
