China's invasion plan "crafts with legs"

The evidence of China's plans to invade Taiwan

Wolfgang Hansson

This is a commentary text. Analysis and positions are those of the writer.

Published 2025-03-27 20.37

Pictures and video of the strange craft were briefly posted on X before they were removed. Photo: X

The pictures of the ships with giant ramps equipped with legs that can stand on the seabed have sent chills down the spines of Taiwanese.

The ships seem tailor-made for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

Combined with the open threats from President Xi Jinping, their appearance is ominous for one of Asia's leading democracies.

Quick version

• Chinese landing craft, known as Shuqiao, are believed to be specially built for to enable an invasion of Taiwan by landing troops and vehicles on the country's coastline.
• These craft are based on the concept of water bridges that can adapt to different types of terrain and integrate with Taiwan's road network, which poses a threat to the self-governing democracy of Taiwan.
• President Xi Jinping has expressed a determination to reunify Taiwan with China, and the ships represent a concrete escalation of threats to Taiwan that worries both the Taiwanese population and international observers.

One of China's biggest challenges if it intends to invade Taiwan is how to land troops and equipment along the long coastline. There are only about 20 beaches where a traditional landing from the sea can be made. The answer may be these unusual craft called Shuqiao, water bridges.

They look very strange with their thick central body and long ramps that can be deployed with legs of different sizes. The longest is said to be 185 meters long.

Experts believe that the vessels are intended to be used for a landing where the height of the ramps can be adjusted to different types of terrain near the beaches and allow military vehicles and personnel to connect directly to Taiwan's extensive road network along the country's west coast.

- These bridge barges are purpose-built for an invasion of Taiwan,  says Andrew Ericksson, a professor  at the China Maritime Studies Institute, to British The Guardian. It shows how determined China is in its attempts to incorporate Taiwan by all means.

The images were posted for a short time on WeChat, China's equivalent of the X platform. Then they were removed. But by then a video and a number of images had already been downloaded by several actors.

The images were first published on the specialist website Naval News in January.

           

         

          The new vessels can be used for rapid landing during an invasion.

          1 / 2Photo: X

Naval News states that the vessels were built farkosterna byggts vNaval News states that at a shipyard in the city of Guangzhou in southern China that builds many ships for China's armed forces, the PLA. They will be available in four different versions that can be connected to give them even greater range.

During the Allied landings in Normandy during World War II, soldiers had to wade long distances inland and were easy targets. Here they can drive straight onto the road network.

It looks a bit like science fiction in the pictures, but for Taiwan the threat is very real.

Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated that his goal is to "reunify" Taiwan with the mainland. But the truth is that China has never controlled Taiwan in modern times.

If Taiwan does not voluntarily agree to become part of the People's Republic, Xi has repeated a number of times that he is prepared to use military means to achieve his goal.

Today, Taiwan is considered Asia's leading self-governing democracy. It has not formally declared its independence because that could make Xi take his invasion plans seriously. But in practice, Taiwan is an independent state, even though it is formally recognized by only a few countries. The People's Republic of China refuses to have contact with countries that recognize Taiwan.

The ship when the ramps and legs are not folded out. Photo: X

The images of the landing ships come at a troubled time. Just as Europe feels uncertain whether the United States is truly prepared to defend the continent in the event of an attack from Russia, Taiwan wonders to what extent they can trust the explicit promises made by Joe Biden that the United States will defend Taiwan if China tries to invade or subject the country to a naval blockade.

Trump has not openly threatened not to defend Taiwan in the same way, but he has said that Taiwan must invest more money in its own defense.

Taiwan is under extra pressure from China right now because Beijing strongly dislikes Prime Minister Lai, who it considers "fueling separatism."