CHINA’S D-Day-style invasion barges have been spotted on the move for the first time, as military posturing around Taiwan intensifies.
Meanwhile, Nato chief has warned that could launch an exceptional blitz in Europe to distract the West from a .
One of China’s D-Day-style invasion barges has been spotted on the move for the first time
A satellite image shows the invasion system lining up off the shore of Zhanjiang city, in southern China’s Guangdong province
are designed to create a causeway leading directly onto the shore – and could allow Xi Jinping to stage a full amphibious invasion of tiny Taiwan.
Footage shows one of the beasts lumbering along in calm waters, its bridges at either end drawn up.
These have been spotted in satellite pictures moored up, but this is the first time they have been seen in motion.
Their ability to link up and create a causeway almost a kilometre long has also been documented in action.
Huge retractable legs anchor the barges to the seabed like stilts while a central passageway allows troops and ground vehicles directly onto the shore.
It’s believed that of at least five of the giant troop-carrying vessels, based off satellite imagery and military sources.
Analysts have likened the purpose-built barges to the floating Mulberry Harbours used by allied forces during the landings in June, 1944.
is adamant that should control Taiwan and he has refused to rule out .
He has positioned the reunification of Taiwan with mainland China as “a core part of his vision” for the country.
Anticipating the real possibility of an invasion, Nato General Secretary Mark Rutte warned that China could put weight on Russia to create a diversion.
He said: “”If, for example, China were to move against Taiwan, it’s highly likely that China would force the junior partner in that relationship, being Russia, under the leadership of Vladimir Putin, to move against NATO here to keep us busy.”
The self-governing island nation has been protected by the firepower of ally America for decades.
Also anticipating an eventual invasion, has built up an impressive military for its size and runs regular drills.
But it has also developed a specific defensive approach known as the “porcupine strategy”.
Xi Jinping is adamant that Taiwan and China’s mainland will be reunified
Taiwan runs regular military drills of its own to prepare for the threat of a Chinese invasion
While its army cannot outgun China, it can make an invasion so difficult, costly and bloody that is deterred from ever attempting it.
They would use their Navy, Air Force and weaponry to create a sturdy and near unbreakable force which is hard to penetrate – even for the world’s largest military.
Former intelligence agent Philip Ingram told The Sun that one of Taiwan’s most formidable defensive assets is sea-based: the small, fast and heavily armed Tuo Chiang-class killer corvettes.
Beijing’s armed forces posted a disturbing image of the small island with the words ‘Closing In’ on it
He believes they are the “perfect example of the porcupine strategy”.
They are designed for hit and run attacks against larger Chinese warships which allows them to cause damage and get out of the way.
But Ingram explained that , if it wishes to avoid the risk of an all-out invasion.
It could alternatively seize Taiwan’s outlying islands – the Kinmen Islands – or establish a naval blockade.
Why does China want to invade Taiwan?
TAIWAN insists it is an independent nation after splitting from mainland China amid civil war in 1949.
But China claims Taiwan remains a part of its territory with which it must eventually be reunified – and has not ruled out the use of force to take the island and place it under Beijing’s control.
The island, which is roughly 100 miles from the coast of south-east China, sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.
Taiwan sits in the so-called “first island chain”, which includes a list of US-friendly territories that are crucial to Washington’s foreign policy in the region.
This also puts it in an ideal situation to slow a Chinese attack on the West.
And with tensions between the two nations high, Taiwan is likely to aid China’s enemy if it means keeping its independence.
Taiwan’s economy is another factor in China’s desperation to reclaim the land.
If China takes the island, it could be freer to project power in the western Pacific and rival the US, thanks to much of the world’s electronics being made in Taiwan.
This would allow Beijing to have control over an industry that drives the global economy.
China insists that its intentions are peaceful, but President Xi Jinping has also used threats towards the small island nation.
