Chinese Navy: Where to land?
It is obvious that the landing ship is not intended for any other purposes, except for the landing of amphibious assault forces. From here we have a simple, clear and logical question: where is China going to land its landings? The first thing that comes up in the discussions of Chinese territorial claims is the topic of Taiwan. The war between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China has been predicted for more than a decade, and with each rearmament of the People's Republic of China, its probability is considered increasingly high. However, so far there have been no serious actions. Both sides still exchange all sorts of bad actions, but they are not in a hurry to open the front. After appearing in the Navy of the People’s Liberation Army of China landing craft of the 071 project, some analysts immediately revealed to the world the “true cause” of the absence of open conflict. According to them, all this time, China did not attack Taiwan only because it did not have the appropriate ships. Now, it is alleged, the navy can land almost from day to day. At the same time, there is a perception that Beijing has no plans to seize Taiwan. Over the past decades, the Chinese leadership has somewhat come to terms with the actual independence of Taiwan. Among other things, the reason for this is the developed relations between Taiwan and the United States. China is unlikely to want to unleash a war with a superpower for the sake of just one island.
There is also another fact, which to some extent confirms the preparation for the landing on Taiwan. The first two ships of the 071 project, the Kunlunshan and the Jinggangshan, are based in the province of Guangdong, located on the coast of the South China Sea. Thus, the landing craft will need to go all 750-800 kilometers from the home port to the Taiwanese coast. A relatively small distance, if necessary, may work on the surprise attack, but the Taiwanese armed forces are modern enough not to miss ships with troops, especially the largest in the PLA Navy.
As we see, the PRC's attack on Taiwan raises enough questions that cast doubt on the success of the entire operation. The Chinese leadership simply cannot fail to understand this and is unlikely preparing plans to disembark on an independent island from day to day. At the same time, Beijing’s territorial claims do not end in the Republic of China. The Chinese have long shown interest in several islands in the South China Sea. According to some sources, these few pieces of land have good mineral reserves. Official Beijing has several times expressed its intention to take these islands to itself "under its wing." Other countries in the region, such as the Philippines or Vietnam are against it. In their opinion, the disputed islands should belong not to China, but to them. It is not difficult to guess why Vietnam or the Philippines want to get these territories. It should be noted, in these countries, fear not only the loss of mineral deposits. Having received another resource base, China will be able to finally and irrevocably become the economic, industrial and military leader of the South Asian region. And here we recall the words of Comrade Mao, who directly stated that it was necessary for China to “collect” several countries in the region. Naturally, the neighbors of the Middle Kingdom are nervous and do not give consent to the joining of disputed islands.
Since the islands are not owned by anyone, they are virtually uninhabited. As a result, the capture operation will be fairly simple. And it will be the Marine Corps that can be dealt with, which will be delivered to the place by amphibious ships. It should also be noted that marines on the ships "071" can not only take these islands, but also discourage them from other "competitors". It is impossible to exclude the possibility that some of the countries currently arguing in the near future will independently, without any approval from the side, attach the disputed territories to themselves. In this case, within a few days, China will be able to launch a “peacekeeping” operation to “liberate” the islands. It remains only to wonder whether Beijing will make the islands empty again, take it away or leave it “under protectorate”. Regardless of the outcome of such a conflict, the landing craft of the 071 project will be very useful. It can even be argued that they will play a decisive role in all the battles for the islands.
It is hardly possible to find more suitable “targets” for Project 071 landing craft except Taiwan and the islands of the South China Sea. Of course, with a cruising range of at least 7-8 thousand nautical miles, these ships can operate in more remote areas, but so far China has not shown its special interest in the regions falling into this radius. So in addition to the versions about preparing an attack on the nearby islands, you can consider the option of a banal development of your fleet. It just so happened that the ships of Project 071 are the largest in size and displacement in the Chinese fleet. In the coming months, the PLA Navy will receive its first Shi Lan aircraft carrier. Although this warship is not China’s own development, an increased interest in it can already be predicted. So, already this fall, discussions on the topic "why China should have landing ships?" give way to similar reasoning about the aircraft carrier. Still, the Shi Lan is one and a half times longer than the Kunlunshan and has a three times greater displacement. Good reason to think.
On the materials of the sites:
http://lenta.ru/
http://globalsecurity.org/
http://voennovosti.ru/
http://strategycenter.net/
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