Fresh row erupts between China and Taiwan over visit of Greg Hands, British Trade Policy Minister to Taiwan

There are indications that China has plans to make use of the massive civilian maritime fleet it has in order to transport military equipment to seize Taiwan. This appears to be the result of the visit of Greg Hands, the British Trade Policy Minister, to Taiwan. Photos in the social media reveal a massive military convoy of trucks, main battle tanks (MBT), and armored fighting vehicles (AFV) at civilian ports. These are moving in between passenger ships and car carriers. Chinese defense enthusiasts claim the design of the concept has a Taiwan operation in mind. China has its own fleet of roll-on-roll-over (RoRo) ships and dedicated car carriers. These can double up as amphibious transport vessels when required. In short, China wants to assert its claims over Taiwan and use every possible means. Photos in the media do not identify the port and the date of the military exercises. China had conducted such exercises in the past. Civilian Ship Armed With Tanks — Scary Images Reveal China’s ‘Notorious Plan’ To Invade & Annex Taiwan.

It seems, the civilian fleet can be commandeered under China’s January 2017 National Defense Transportation Law, which treats basic infrastructure and transport systems as “civil-military fusion assets”. This is as informed by Ian Easton, Senior Director of the Project 2049 Institute. On August 31 this year, seven dual-use amphibious ferries landing craft came to a Chinese beach near the Taiwan Strait. This is according to a defense analyst Tom Shugart. One of the RoRo ferries was the Bo Hai Heng Tong, a 15,000-ton multipurpose cargo ship. As Tom Shugart explains – “The ferry’s internal parking ‘lane’ is 1.6 miles long and three meters wide, spread across three decks. It translates into a vehicle cargo capacity almost three times that of a San Antonio-class amphibious warship (LPD-17).” Obviously, the plans of China appear to have a single agenda – Taiwan. Whether these weapons of warfare are actually used is anybody’s guess.

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