Military rivalry between China and the United States is increasing (Reuters)
Hong Kong:
China launched its military rise in the mid-1990s with an absolute priority: to keep the United States at bay in any conflict by making the waters off the Chinese coast a deadly trap. Today, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China is preparing to challenge American power further.
Chinese shipyards have launched the first two PLA Navy Type 075 amphibious assault ships, which will form the spearhead of an expeditionary force to play a role similar to that of the United States Marine Corps. And like the Marines, the new force will be autonomous – capable of deploying solo with all of its support weapons to fight in distant conflicts or demonstrate Chinese military might.
Type 075 ships, with a capacity of 40,000 tonnes, are a kind of small aircraft carrier that can accommodate up to 900 soldiers and space for heavy equipment and landing craft, according to Western military experts who have studied satellite images and photographs of the new ships. They will carry up to 30 helicopters at first; later they could carry fighter jets, if China can build short takeoff and vertical landing planes like the American F-35B.
The first Type 075 was launched last September and the second in April, according to reports in the official Chinese military media. A third is under construction, according to the May edition of a report from the Congressional Research Service.
Ultimately, the PLA navy may have seven or more of these ships, according to reports in the official Chinese military press.
Chinese military commentators quoted in the official media say that Chinese shipyards are now building and launching amphibious ships so quickly that it amounts to “dropping pellets” into the water.
The military rivalry between China and the United States is only increasing. Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared most of Beijing’s sovereignty claims in the South China Sea illegal, throwing Washington’s weight behind the rival claims of Southeast Asian nations over the territory and resources of the strategic waterway that were supported by international law. China said the US position has increased tensions in the region and undermined stability.
China’s nascent amphibious forces are still far behind those of the United States, but the speed of China’s rise has already changed the balance of power in Asia. Over the past two decades, China has deployed an arsenal of missiles and a massive surface and underground fleet to deter potential enemies from navigating its coastal waters. As part of an accelerated modernization of the PLA since the coming to power of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2012, these new amphibious ships and the specially trained marines they carry will strengthen the firepower and political influence of Beijing far from its shores, according to Chinese and Western military analysts.
As shipyards build amphibious ships, China is expanding its marine force under the command of the PLA navy. These troops are trained and equipped to make landings and make their way ashore. China now has between 25,000 and 35,000 navies, according to US and Japanese military estimates. This is a sharp increase from around 10,000 in 2017.
“Without an amphibious force, any military force is severely constrained as to where and how to conduct operations,” said Grant Newsham, retired US Marine Corps colonel and researcher at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies. Newsham advised the Japanese military on the formation of Tokyo’s own amphibious rapid deployment brigade, formed in 2018. “Jets can drop bombs and ships can fire missiles at shore – but you may need to infantry to descend to the ground and kill the enemy and occupy the ground. “
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense and the Pentagon did not respond to questions from Reuters.
At home too, the PLA marines have become an important tool in the efforts of the ruling Communist Party to introduce the increasingly powerful Chinese army to its national audience. State-controlled media regularly report on the grueling training and military skills of Jiaolong, or Sea Dragon commandos – a unit of the Marine Special Forces brigade based on Hainan Island off southern China.
“We should be at the point of the sword in joint operations to strike terror into the hearts of the enemy,” said Gong Kaifeng, a commander of the Jiaolong commando company, in a report last year on the formation of the unit broadcast on national television.
When the 075-type ships enter service, China will have the ability to combine them with its other new amphibious and support ships, according to Chinese and foreign analysts. These autonomous fleets can be sent into distant conflicts, deployed as a show of force to deter potential enemies or to protect Chinese investment and citizens abroad. They would also allow the PLA to provide disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, competing with the United States for prestige and soft power.
InvadingTaiwan
For Beijing, these amphibious forces will also contribute to the mounting capacity of the PLA to make a landing on Taiwan or to seize another strategically important territory in the offshore regions of China, according to amphibious war specialists.
Beijing considers autonomous Taiwan as a Chinese province. Xi Jinping said that the unification of Taiwan with the mainland was an essential step to realize the dream of the Chinese people of a powerful and rejuvenated nation. In a key speech early last year calling on Taiwan to open talks on peaceful reunification, Xi warned that this long-standing dispute could not be postponed indefinitely. “We do not promise to give up the use of force and we reserve the right to take any necessary means,” said Xi.
China has stepped up military operations and exercises around Taiwan this year, according to US and Taiwanese military analysts. PLA air force planes, including at least one bomber and one fighter, briefly entered the Taiwan Air Defense Identification Zone on June 22, before being alerted by l Taiwanese Air Force, said the island’s military. It was the eighth such meeting in two weeks, the military said.
Taiwan launched its annual Han Kuang defense exercise on July 13, focusing on joint operations between land, sea and air forces to defend the island from attack, according to the island’s military. The exercise also involved an expanded role for reservists as the military strives to increase its firepower, said senior Taiwanese government officials.
“Our soldiers are always working hard to prepare for war, closely monitoring the dynamics of the Chinese Communist army and the development of the situation in the Taiwan Strait,” said the Taiwanese Defense Ministry in response to questions. from Reuters. “We have a comprehensive defense plan and appropriate actions to deal with the threat of the Chinese Communists attacking Taiwan and the seizure of the offshore islands, which can provide national security.”
Amphibious Forces experts note that the PLA already has powerful army units that are trained and equipped to carry out the kinds of landings necessary for an invasion of Taiwan. In developing the navies, they say, the PLA’s military planners are considering operations around the world, in places where China has significant overseas investments. These commercial interests are expected to multiply as Beijing moves forward with its Belt and Road initiative, an ambitious attempt to place China at the center of global trade routes.
Chinese navies will also be important to humans, which is expected to become a network of strategic military bases around the world, including fortifications on the territory that Beijing has captured in the South China Sea, according to Chinese and Western military commentators. .
Beijing has already deployed navies and their armored vehicles to its first overseas base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, according to Pentagon reports. Marines are also deployed to fleets that China is sending on a mission against naval piracy in the Gulf of Aden, the report said.
“We currently only see the tip of the iceberg,” said Ian Easton, senior director of the Project 2049 Institute, a security research group based in Arlington, Virginia. “In ten years, China will almost certainly deploy marine units all over the world. The ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party are global. Its interests are global. It plans to send military units to where its strategic global interests require it. . “
Short of war, capable amphibious forces will also become a powerful diplomatic or coercive tool for Beijing, according to military analysts. So far, Washington has had a monopoly on this type of engagement with other governments, regularly sending expeditionary shipping units abroad for port visits, joint training exercises, and disaster relief .
The American expeditionary fleets, filled with navies, all their heavy equipment and air support, are a powerful reminder of American power. A brutal demonstration occurred during the tense period of 1999, when an Australian-led United Nations peacekeeping force intervened to end the violence in what was then East Timor under Indonesian control. American forces have not been heavily involved on the ground. But the presence of the USS Belleau Wood, a 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship carrying 900 marines and heavy lift and attack helicopters, served as tremendous support as UN troops reestablished order. without any significant resistance from Indonesia.
Striking Islands
China’s first two amphibious assault ships, type 075, are now moored together in final construction at a Shanghai state-owned shipyard, official Chinese military media reported. Official media photographs and commercial satellite images show that the 250-meter-long ships appear similar to flat-roofed amphibious assault ships in service with other advanced navies, including the U.S. fleet. America currently has a fleet of eight Wasp ships and two American-class amphibious assault ships.
However, in a blow to American efforts to alleviate China’s challenge, the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard caught fire on July 12 while moored at its home port in San Diego . The vessel was severely damaged by the fire, which burned for four days. It was not clear whether the ship would be saved, said the US Navy.
Since 2005, China has also built a fleet of six Type 071 amphibious ships, according to a 2019 report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency. These ships can carry up to four air cushion landing craft, similar to hovercraft transported on U.S. amphibious landing ships, as well as four or more helicopters, armored vehicles and troops on long-range deployment, according to the report. A seventh type 071 is under construction, according to Western military analysts.
Official newspapers in the Chinese shipbuilding industry have reported that the 29,000-ton Type 071 has command and control capabilities, a medical unit and accommodation for hundreds of marines. The 210-meter-long vessel has a range of 10,000 nautical miles and has reached a speed of 25 knots during the tests, according to these reports.
To build the force that will embark on these ships, China began a rapid increase in the size of its marine force in 2017, according to Pentagon reports. Earlier, the marines had been a low priority in the decades when the Chinese military built a massive land force to defend the continent. A marine regiment was formed in 1953 and expanded to a division, then disbanded in 1957, according to an official calendar of major events in the history of the PLA. It was reformed in 1979, shows the chronology.
The US Defense Intelligence Agency report indicates that the Chinese maritime force is now organized into seven brigades, each with armored vehicles, infantry, artillery and missiles, and is the leading force. most powerful of this type among contenders for disputed territories in the South China Sea. Chinese navies “can simultaneously seize multiple islands in the Spratlys,” the report said, referring to a group of disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea. They could also quickly strengthen China’s outposts in the Paracels, another disputed territory on the same waterway. China does not publish a detailed account of the disposition of its forces.
Amphibious Warfare Experts say these marines would also be useful for capturing other disputed territories, including the uninhabited group of East China Sea islands claimed by Tokyo and Beijing – known as the islands Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China.
Selected army units are transferred to the marines to build the force’s capabilities, according to reports in Chinese official media and Western defense analysts. The official Chinese military newspaper, PLA Daily, reported in April that two army units trained in air strikes had been transferred to a naval brigade dedicated to helicopter landings.
The Pentagon’s annual report on Chinese military might in 2018 found that a newly created headquarters under the command of the navy was responsible for the staffing, training and equipment of the expanding force. And, according to the report, a new commander had been appointed to lead the marines. State-controlled media identified him as Major General Kong Jun, a former army officer who was transferred to the Marines in early 2017.
Despite this buildup, the Pentagon and other Western military experts say the PLA marines remain far less capable than the 186,000 US Marine Corps, with its vast experience in amphibious and land operations.
In its 2019 report on China’s military might, the Pentagon said that most of the new PLA marine brigades were not yet equipped and equipped to be fully operational. He said the Chinese navies lack sufficient armored vehicles, helicopters and training to conduct complex amphibious operations.
Some Western military experts suggest a reason for this: the top priorities for PLA brass are the army’s amphibious units and the airborne air force troops who would direct an attack on Taiwan. For example, navies “don’t have priority when it comes to amphibious tanks and helicopters,” said Easton of the Project 2049 Institute, who has written a book, The Chinese Invasion Threat, on preparations for the ‘APL to conquer Taiwan.
The ruling Communist Party has long wanted control of Taiwan for political reasons. The island also has enormous strategic importance. This would give the PLA a key anchor in the so-called first island chain, the chain of islands stretching from the Japanese archipelago to Taiwan, the Philippines and to Borneo, encompassing the coastal seas. from China. From the bases in Taiwan, Chinese warships, fighter planes and missiles are said to dominate vital sea routes for Japan and South Korea. And Taiwan would be an ideal starting point for operations to seize new territories in the island chain.
Newsham, the retired U.S. Navy colonel, said the PLA had assembled a formidable amphibious force from the military and enough ships, military and civilian, to likely land enough troops on Taiwan as part of a large-scale attack including planes, missiles, ships and cyber attacks. “The PLA has already aligned a lot,” he said.
(Report by David Lague in Hong Kong. Edited by Peter Hirschberg.)
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
