(Adnkronos) – A fleet of barges. And a ‘weapon’ to cut submarine cables at record depths. China’s latest ‘news’ has caught the attention of defense experts and is fueling fears for Taiwan, the de facto independent island that Beijing considers a “rebel province” to be “reunified” without excluding the use of force. Images of the barges began circulating on Chinese social media in recent weeks and soon disappeared, CNN reconstructs of three huge boats immortalized off a beach. Three barges connected by bridges to create a huge ‘road’ that started from the beach and ‘stretched’ up to over 800 meters from the shore. The US network has geolocated the video: it is a beach near the port city of Zhanjiang, in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, where there is a headquarters of the Chinese Navy. As of March 21, satellite images from Maxar Technologies have ‘immortalized’ the barges moved about 15 kilometers south along the coast and, the US network further reports, the shots also show a Ro-Ro ferry next to the third and largest barge. Days later, images from Planet Lab show another Ro-Ro ship approaching the same barge from the opposite side. Perhaps an exercise, the experts commented.
Among the analysts there are those who highlight possible uses for civil purposes, but there are many who instead indicate mainly military purposes. And it is a significant step forward for the capabilities of the Chinese military, say defense experts. In the event of an invasion of Taiwan, a sort of pier could be created for the landing of tanks and armored vehicles and other military equipment. However, to be used in a second phase of the eventual operation for “reunification”. And Thomas Shugart, an expert at the Center for a New American Security, points out how the barges add to a growing number of other ‘resources’ – innovative platforms, munitions and defense systems – that the Chinese military has tested in recent years. “There is nothing like it in the West – he commented – I have never seen anything analogous to what we see here”. Silence from the Beijing Defense Ministry, while from Taipei the Defense Ministry speaks of assessments according to which the barges are “designed with an extendable ramp” to “be used as a makeshift dock” in order to allow “the rapid landing of tanks and various means in support of amphibious operations”.
All while Chinese researchers from official institutions claim the development of a cable cutter capable of cutting cables for telecommunications or energy transport, even well protected, at depths of up to 4,000 meters. The South China Morning Post wrote about it in recent days, speaking of a compact ‘asset’ capable of cutting even the “most fortified cables in the world”.
Collin Koh, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (Rsis) also quoted by CNN, highlights how the depth level that is declared to be able to reach is not in itself alarming, but “the political context”, and in any case everything could be at an experimental stage. “Whether it has been turned into an operational tool ready for use is a big question mark,” he observed.
The fear remains that in the event of an invasion, China could completely ‘isolate’ Taiwan, even interrupting the island’s military communications with the United States and other partners. It has only been a few weeks since the island, on which Beijing’s military and political pressure persists, denounced the breaking of a fiber optic submarine cable in the Taiwan Strait. 2027 is the year China could be ready to invade the island. The date has now ‘entered’ an official document from Taipei and, the Wall Street Journal wrote, the further the preparation of the Chinese Armed Forces progresses, the greater the risk that Beijing will decide to move from exercises to war.
