By AFP and Focus | 2025-04-09

BEIJING -- Vast new Chinese barges spotted off China's south coast could be used to land heavy equipment and thousands of personnel in a possible invasion of Taiwan, defense analysts say.

A memo from the US Naval War College has revealed another potential weapon in Beijing's arsenal -- barges that can connect via extendable ramps to form an 820-meter-long pier from deep waters to land.

Since the barges have retractable legs that can push into the sea floor, the Naval War College said they could create a platform for personnel and "hundreds of vehicles" an hour to land on Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory. The barges form a pier onto which ships lining up alongside could disgorge vehicles, allowing them to drive directly to shore.

"These barges are clearly meant to facilitate amphibious invasion against Taiwan," Wen-Ti Sung, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, told AFP.

Wargaming of a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan long assumed that Beijing's People's Liberation Army (PLA) would have been forced to rely on small amphibious landing vessels to get ashore.

Only a handful of Taiwan's beaches are suitable for large-scale amphibious landings -- giving Taipei a critical edge in the defense of the island.

"These barges may enable Chinese forces to make landings even on the more challenging terrains of the Taiwanese coastline," Sung said.

This, he added, "gives the Chinese military a greater selection of potential landing spots, and spreads Taiwanese defenses thin."

Taiwan's western coast, while closest to China, is heavily fortified and has limited accessible beaches. The barges may allow China to target less-defended but more rugged parts of the coastline.

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC obtained by AFP show the system deployed in the waters off Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province, China, at the end of March.

In a program on state TV on March 19 discussing the barges, military commentator Wei Dongxu touted their ability to transport large amounts of heavy equipment onto an island "while keeping their feet dry."

"Once the naval and air forces effectively control the air and sea, then this... barge will appear," he said. "It signifies that the landing has been a major victory."

And another three barges, dubbed Shuiqiao ("water bridge" in Chinese) by analysts, are under construction in southern China, the US Naval War College said.

The barges under construction at a shipyard in Guangzhou have already entered the water for initial tests, the New York Times reported April 1, citing satellite image analyst Jason Wang.

'Any means possible'

The barges "embody the seriousness with which China under President Xi Jinping is pursuing absorption of Taiwan by any means possible," Andrew Erickson, professor at the US Naval War College's China Maritime Studies Institute, told AFP.

"China... would not waste resources on such a specialized, dedicated system if it were not bore-sighted on taking Taiwan by threat, or use, of force."

China could harness its world-leading shipbuilding industry to rapidly build many more barges at affordable cost, Erickson said.

Beijing has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan in recent years and held multiple large-scale exercises around the island that are often described as rehearsals for a blockade and seizure of the territory.

US officials say Xi has ordered his military to be ready for an invasion of Taiwan by 2027.

Beijing on April 1-2 launched what it called "punishing" drills around Taiwan, sending jets and warships in a rehearsal for a blockade and assault on the self-ruled island.

Taiwan's Defense Ministry said it had detected 21 warships, 71 aircraft and four coast guard vessels around the island. China's Shandong aircraft carrier also took part.

The drills, held less than a month after Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te called China a "foreign hostile force," saw Beijing practice striking "key energy sites" and ports, Beijing's military said.

'Hard to hide, hard to defend'

But despite the bravado from Beijing, defeating well-prepared Taiwanese defenders and conquering the island still pose major challenges to China's modernizing military.

And the barges are still no panacea for the logistical woes that will plague any future invasion.

The barges "appear vulnerable to attacks from land, air, and sea," the US Naval War College said.

"There are reasons why these capabilities aren't commonly touted as particularly viable," said Rorry Daniels, managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

"They're... hard to hide, hard to defend, slow to move."

"You need air superiority for them to work, and it's not clear to me that Beijing could establish air superiority over Taiwan."

The barges "cannot hope to survive in isolation," said the US Naval War College's Erickson.

Though still appearing to be in a trial phase of their deployment, the barges could be aimed at sending a message to Taiwan's leaders.

Beijing is saying, "We are actively problem-solving the issues that we see with a full-scale invasion of Taiwan," said Daniels.

"'And you should be worried about that.'"