Footage captured of China’s new weapon for an amphibious invasion: “I had not seen anything quite like that before”
There is growing suspicion China could be preparing to invade Taiwan after adding “impressive” assault ships to its military arsenal.
With Beijing ramping up its military activity around Taiwan, there is growing belief China could be preparing to invade its neighbor using amphibious assault ships, which have been caught on camera.
China-Taiwan tension
China, officially the People’s Republic of China, claims self-governed Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, as part of its territory, which the island itself doesn’t go along with.
As a result, Beijing hasn’t ruled out using force to take control of the island, which could be made considerably easier thanks to China’s newest weapon.
Taiwan has taken confidence from its belief there is a limited number locations where Chinese could land on its territory. But amphibious assault ships would open up the possibility of an invasion by sea, significantly increasing the number of potential targets.
China’s amphibious assault ships: what do we know?
The first known footage of the vessels was taken off China’s Nansan Island, where sea trials were taking place.
The unique system of interconnected ships, effectively a mobile pier system, possesses jack-up legs that stabilize the vehicles out of the water, and long ramps which extend from the landing platform to the shoreline. That would theoretically allow vast numbers of troops and equipment to be transferred from the sea to land.
The development of the vessels has caught the attention of Tom Shugart, a former U.S. Navy warfare officer, who is hugely impressed, and perhaps somewhat concerned, by what he has seen.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Shugart has described the vessels as a “significant improvement in China’s amphibious assault capacity.”
“Seeing them lifted up out of the water, that was quite impressive. I had not seen anything quite like that before.”
Taiwan is hoping it won’t be saying the same thing any time in the future, although it will be feeling uneasy about China literally adding a new weapon to its arsenal.
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