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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as