China is reportedly building a series of ‘D-Day style’ barges that could be used to aid an invasion of Taiwan, according to media reports.
At least three of the new craft have been observed at Guangzhou Shipyard in southern China, according to Naval News.
The barges are inspired by the World War II ‘Mulberry harbours,’ which were portable harbors built for the Allied campaign in Normandy, France, in 1944, The Telegraph reported.
Tensions between China and Taiwan, a key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific region, have remained heightened over Beijing’s refusal to recognize the independence of the island nation.
In its report last week, Naval News said at least three but likely five or more barges were seen in China’s Guangzhou Shipyard. The barges, at over 390 feet, can be used to reach a coastal road or hard surface beyond a beach, the report said.
In his New Year’s message, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said ‘reunification’ with Taiwan is inevitable.
‘The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification,’ he said on CCTV, China’s state broadcaster.
Using barges, Chinese forces could land in areas previously considered unsuitable, including rocky or soft terrain, and beaches where tanks and other heavy equipment can be delivered to firmer ground or a coastal road, the report said.
‘Any invasion of Taiwan from the mainland would require a large number of ships to transport personnel and equipment across the strait quickly, particularly land assets like armored vehicles,’ Emma Salisbury, a sea power research fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, told Naval News. ‘As preparation for an invasion, or at least to give China the option as leverage, I would expect to see a build-up of construction of ships that could accomplish this transportation.’
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Defense, the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, also in Washington.