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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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A Chinese warship designed to project forces from sea to shore during an amphibious invasion returned to base after a blockade-style war game near Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing has threatened to take by force, according to satellite imagery.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why It Matters
The Communist Party in Beijing claims Taiwan—a security partner of the United States on the First Island Chain, a containment line against China—as its own, despite never having governed the island since taking power on the Chinese mainland in 1949.
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Last December, the Chinese military organized a large-scale exercise around Taiwan following Washington's approval of one of its largest arms sales to Taipei. The drills featured simulated blockades and rocket fire into the waters surrounding the island.
In its assessment of China's military developments, the Pentagon warned that Beijing aims to "fight and win a war" over Taiwan by the end of 2027. To that end, China has constructed a fleet of amphibious assault ships capable of conducting island landings.
What To Know
An image shared by @type36512, a Japan-based Chinese military observer on the social media platform X, and captured by satellites from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 mission on Saturday shows the Chinese Type 075 amphibious assault ship CNS Hainan docked at a naval base in Zhanjiang, in southern China north of the South China Sea.
The warship, which features a flight deck similar to those on an aircraft carrier for launching helicopters, took part in a drill code-named Justice Mission 2025 in late December, when it was deployed east of Taiwan to support a simulated seizure of the island's key ports and a special forces raid, according to U.S. Naval Institute News.
While the war game was organized by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, which is responsible for operations related to Taiwan, the Hainan is assigned to the Southern Theater Command for South China Sea missions.
The Chinese navy operates four Type 075 ships, with the Eastern and Southern Theater Commands each assigned two, China's state-run Global Times reported last August. Each of these 40,000-ton vessels can also carry amphibious vehicles and landing craft.
In the same satellite imagery, the Hainan was seen mooring at the pier with one of its sister ships, presumably CNS Hubei, also assigned to the Southern Theater Command.
Prior to its deployment near Taiwan, the Hainan was tracked operating north of Papua New Guinea in the Philippine Sea alongside a destroyer, a frigate and a replenishment ship, raising Australia's concern over the flotilla's possible transit toward the country.
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What People Are Saying
The Pentagon's Chinese military power report commented: "An amphibious invasion of Taiwan would involve a highly complex three-dimensional assault on Taiwan, involving multiple carefully coordinated operations. The objectives would be to break through Taiwan's shore defenses and establish a beachhead that allowed the [People's Liberation Army] to build up enough combat power to seize key targets or territory to force unification."
Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times: "Having four Type 075 amphibious assault ships shows the increasing amphibious combat capabilities of the [People's Liberation Army] Navy, which is determined by the demands on defending national sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as safeguarding national security."
What Happens Next
While China is expected to continue refining its amphibious capabilities, it remains unclear whether it will build additional amphibious assault ships to bolster the fleet in preparation for a potential invasion of Taiwan, the defense outlet Naval News reported.
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