China is reportedly building a series of “D-Day-style” barges that could be used to support an invasion of Taiwan, according to media reports.
At least three of the new vessels were observed at Guangzhou Shipyard in southern China, Navy News said.
The barge was inspired by World War II’s Mulberry Harbor, a mobile port built in 1944 for Allied operations in Normandy, France, the Telegraph reported.
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Tensions between the two countries have increased in recent years. A series of barges have reportedly been sighted in China, raising fears of an invasion of Taiwan. (Getty Images)
Tensions between China and Taiwan, a key partner of the United States in the Indo-Pacific region, remain high over Beijing’s refusal to recognize Taiwan’s independence.
Naval News said in a report last week that at least three, and possibly more than five, barges had been sighted at China’s Guangzhou Shipyard. The barge is over 390 feet tall and can be used to reach hard ground along coastal roads and beyond the coast, the report said.
In his New Year’s address, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that “unification” with Taiwan was inevitable.
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Taiwanese President Lai Ching-de and David Truglio, president and CEO of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Research Institute, meet in Taipei. (Official photo provided by Chen Lin/Presidential Office/File)
“The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever family ties or stop the historical trend of national reunification,” he said on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
According to the report, the Chinese military is using barges to navigate areas previously considered unsuitable, such as rocky or soft terrain, or the coast where tanks and other heavy equipment can be transported onto hard ground or along coastal roads. There is a possibility that it will make landfall in the area.
“Invading Taiwan from the mainland would require large numbers of ships to quickly transport personnel and equipment, especially land assets such as armored vehicles, across the Strait,” said Emma Salisbury, a seapower researcher at the Geostrategic Council. “It will be,” he told Naval News. . “I would like to see a build-up of ships that can accomplish this, in preparation for an invasion, or at least to give China an option as leverage.”
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FOX News Digital contacted the Department of Defense, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, also in Washington.
