The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) claims that it has found innovative new ways to accelerate a potential assault against the island of Taiwan.
According to an article released in the PLA Daily and republished on the Chinese Ministry of Defense website, new innovations have given China’s 1st Amphibious Mechanized Division, the unit charged with making preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan, a serious boost.
The 1st Amphibious Mechanized Division has reduced the amount of time needed to prepare and mount an assault by roughly one-third by embracing several modern warfare tactics. For starters, China has abandoned what it calls the “Cold War-era ‘fight from the barracks’ approach” and combined its storage facilities and amphibious assault vehicles to increase mobility.
Vehicles have reportedly been loaded with all the materials needed to ensure that China’s soldiers are ready for a war against Taiwan. The purpose is to replace outdated storage facilities with assault vehicles and eliminate the time-consuming preparation process, which has traditionally involved moving supplies from the storage facilities to the assault vehicles.
The PLA has also intensified its efforts to construct reliable information network infrastructure in order to facilitate dynamic data monitoring and the development of integrated command systems. These new systems, which are now operational, allow for unified battlefield management and real-time data sharing for dramatically-improved combat readiness.
As a test of its new capabilities, the 1st Amphibious Mechanized Division was given an order to prepare for an assault without any prior notification or warning. The PLA reported that not only was the military’s response orderly and effective, but the preparation process was completed in a noticeably reduced amount of time. In addition to combat readiness, the PLA’s new tactics also improve combat sustainability.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping took office three and a half years ago, he called upon China to build a strong army capable of winning wars. Since then, he has been pushing the PLA to pursue modernization and the development of advanced battlefield tactics. A lot of emphasis has been put on turning ceremonial drills into real combat drills for actual scenarios that the PLA might encounter while defending China’s national sovereignty. Taiwan, like the East and South China Sea, is a “core interest” of the Chinese state.
China has more than 1,500 ballistic missiles deployed and aimed at the island of Taiwan. PLA ground forces also regularly conduct joint training operations with the PLA Navy (PLAN) in preparation for an attack against Taiwan. China’s activities in the East and South China Sea are putting Chinese military units in positions around Taiwan. A Taiwanese report released late last year argues that China will attempt to retake the island before 2020.
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