The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is training soldiers in the use of roll-on/roll-off (RORO) vessels as part of preparations for a potential assault on Taiwan, a source cited a US defense official as saying recently.
Speaking at the annual US-Taiwan Defense Industry Conference held in Virginia from Oct. 1 to 3, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Jedidiah Royal stated that while China is using coercive means to pressure Taiwan economically and diplomatically, it is also training for a potential amphibious assault on Taiwan, which increasingly has included the use of RORO vessels, the source said.
A report on Oct. 12 by the military news Web site Naval News made a similar claim, saying that since the PLA’s amphibious landing fleet remains insufficient for an invasion of Taiwan, such an attack would likely make use of commercial vessels including RORO cargo ships.
Photo: Reuters
The report cited four commercial RORO ferries that sailed from the Bohai Sea in Northern China to Xiamen City — just off the coast of Taiwan’s Kinmen County — last month to conduct such training exercises.
The report also quoted a January report from the China Maritime Studies Institute of the US Naval War College, stating that China has 31 ocean-going RORO ferries currently in operation.
The PLA has made “significant progress” in using civilian and commercial ships for military transportation, but such ships are still unable to provide the amphibious landing and maritime logistics capabilities needed to invade Taiwan in the harsh environment of a military conflict, the report said.
However, other military developments might make it possible for the PLA to incorporate commercial vessels into an attack on Taiwan by 2027, the report suggested.
Taiwan Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), who attended the conference in Virginia, said that Royal’s comments suggest that US intelligence has made findings related to such plans.
Taiwan must act on those findings to better prepare itself and not be left blindsided by a surprise attack, he said.
“The military has plans to prevent airports and marine ports from being raided, but needs a system that can monitor RORO vessels and generate alerts, if they deviate from course toward Taiwan,” he said. “China would also manipulate the automatic identification systems on such vessels as a means of tactical deception, so the military must be able to strengthen means of identifying them.”
New Power Party Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) on Oct. 14 expressed concern that customs and port officials have insufficient manpower to inspect merchant ships and too little time to board ships for inspection.
“If China intends to use RORO ships to carry equipment and armed soldiers for a raid, the current response measures are insufficient,” she said.
Separately, Institute for National Policy Research senior consultant Chen Wen-jia (陳文甲) said while the PLA might use ROROs in a second echelon, a first round of attacks would need to involve warships, so Taiwan must strengthen its anti-landing and anti-airborne capabilities.
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