The short video is taken from a public beach in Guangdong, China. The unidentified filmer is standing quietly by a fishing boat and several tourists.
Just to their right, a strange-looking line of ships looms in the fog. The giant ship is immovable and is raised up on the waves by thick pylons. A drop-down bridge connects them to each other and extends to the sand at the front.
The original video reportedly disappeared from WeChat shortly after it was uploaded, but the copy was widely circulated among hostile watchers in China's Taiwan. The 19-second clip was first clearly seen that many believe it is China's latest tool for Taiwan's invasion planning.
Like a barge shuqiao The ship was first seen during the construction phase in January and was reported by Navy News. The Zhanjiang Beach test showed how you can create a loading dock from almost 1 kilometer to the sea. This is what China needs to overcome one of the key challenges of Taiwan's land invasion.
It also provides important insights into the progress of China's military, paramilitary and civilian operations.
Under Xi Jinping's rules, Chinese forces are pursuing the ability to forcibly annex Taiwan if they fail to persuade or force the island's government to submit peacefully. Most annexation scenarios include a complete ground invasion of Taiwan's major islands, but there are 20 beaches where amphibious attacks can land, allowing them to be protected during the war and filled with defensive devices.
Analysts say these barges can deny their important defense and potentially give the People's Liberation Army (PLA) direct access to any road within about 150 meters of the coast. Taiwan has more than 1,500 km (930 miles) of coastline, with several major roads and highways close to their skirts, including nearly 30 km to the Central Plateau.
“The Chinese Maritime Research Institute has made the most of the world,” said Andrew Erickson, professor of strategy at the China Maritime Research Institute. “They embody the severity of China pursuing as much Taiwan as possible under XI.
“While the Shukiao barge is not a panacea that can overcome all the difficult landing conditions, it offers PLA planners more options along a much larger range of Taiwan's coastline.”
Many people are focusing on barge vulnerabilities. Former Army Major Yu Pei-Chen has become a city council member, but told local media that Taiwan's military could be pulled out very easily using the newly acquired Himars Rocket Systems.
“China should build more barges of the same kind and send them to Taiwan. It will save our military ammunition,” Yu said.
However, Lu Li-Shih, a retired naval major and now a political commentator, urged careful reviews and spoke politically in the hope that barges would not be deployed until the Taiwanese army “losing control of the air and the sea.”
Jason Wang, chief executive of geospatial analysis firm Ingenispace, said the ship is a clear sign of China's “creativity.”
“They can produce the ships four to six months faster and put them in the theatre,” Wang said. “They can also repeat improvements faster than anyone else.”
Several analysts said it is very unlikely that barges will be used in the first wave of attack. Instead, they are part of the follow-up upon landing and serving as a causeway to help save the numerous troops, vehicles and artillery transferred from the ship that accompany it. High-resolution satellite images seen in the Guardian show that Zenjan's barge was also carrying amphibious vehicles to their deck.
Zhang Jiang Beach, where the ship was filmed, is located near the PLA Naval Facilities, the headquarters of Southern Theatre Command in Pula, which runs operations targeting Taiwan.
The US intelligence agency said XI ordered the PLA to invade by 2027, but military experts said many variables could push in either direction, including the ongoing corruption issue at the PLA and the unpredictability of US support to Taiwan under Trump.
Anyway, the PLA is currently experiencing one of the largest military accumulations since World War II. XI overhauled the command structure, boosting missile and nuclear stocks, and strengthening paramilitary weapons, including the coast guard and paramilitary fleet of fishing vessels known as the maritime militia. Different groups are collaborating more than ever in joint operations.
Satellite images show that the barge was escorted by at least two civilian ships from nearby civilian docks, and it appears that several other boats, including those marked as fishing boats in their tracking IDs, sail behind them and practice carrying out interference.
At least three barges are under construction or early testing. The Barge design suggests that they were built to work with roll-on roll-off ferries that they are reusing or building to bring tanks and other heavily armored vehicles throughout the Taiwan Strait.
Shipbuilding is an important part of the expansion of the PLA, which has the largest navy in the world. recently Report In China's growing “double use” shipbuilding industry, the Center for Strategic and International Research said China's largest single-state shipbuilder “built more commercial vessels in 2024 at tonnage-by-toner tonnage than the entire US shipbuilding industry has been building since the end of World War II.”
Additional research by Jason Tzu Kuan Lu
