By GB News (World News) | Created at 2025-03-15 10:06:30 | Updated at 2025-03-15 15:19:14
5 hours ago
Chinese “D-Day style” barges have been spotted on drills as fears of a full-scale Taiwan attack are growing.
Footage shows the Chinese Navy practicing amphibious landings with the landing barges. Defence analysts have warned these could prove critical in the event of an invasion of Taiwan.
The Shuiqiao barges, similar to the Mulberry harbours built for the 1944 Normandy landings, have 394 foot-long bridges extending from their bows.
These act as a retractable pier that can be used to unload military equipment and troops onto enemy shores.
Footage has shown the Chinese Navy practicing amphibious landings with the landing barges
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According to HI Sutton, a naval analyst, the barges could be an “early warning sign” of an invasion of the self-governing island.
He said they appear “tailor-made for an amphibious assault”, adding: “It is possible that these ships can be explained away as having a civilian role. But the construction of so many, much larger than similar civilian vessels seen before, makes this implausible.”
Speaking to The Telegraph, Dr Emma Salisbury, a sea power research fellow at the Council on Geostrategy said: “A core problem for the PRC [China] in invading Taiwan is getting the necessary heavy equipment over the Strait – and the solution to that problem is what we are seeing with these barges.”
“While landing forces on contested shores is always going to be difficult, these barges look to be ideal for moving tanks, armoured vehicles, and the like quickly and safely on to shore.”
Previous analysis showed around three to five of the barges being built in Guangzhou in southern China
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She added that the fact that China has allowed these details to go public proves the threat it posed in the region.
The barges are similar to the US Military’s Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore system (JLOTS) with which it attempted - and failed - to deliver air to Gaza.
Timothy R Heath, a senior international defence researcher at RAND, said the barges were easily targeted and unlikely to survive in battle, arguing they were more likely to be used to deliver humanitarian aid.
He added: The PLA has many better suited military-grade amphibious assault ships that could carry out similar tasks of unloading armoured vehicles.”
The new footage has emerged amid growing concerns over China’s swiftly growing naval fleet.
New reports have suggested that the superpower has built the equivalent of the entire Royal Navy in just a few years.
