Experts say China's new bridge barges, seen here in an image circulating on Chinese social media, could play a key role an invasion of Taiwan. (Screenshot from X)
China has built at least six barges capable of forming a bridge hundreds of feet long, an ability that could play a key role in a potential invasion of Taiwan, according to defense experts.
The barges, first reported in January by Naval News citing undisclosed sources, are equipped with hydraulic pylons that allow them to rise out of the water.
Their ability to connect and form a bridge could enable China to move large numbers of troops or vehicles over unconventional terrain, including coastal roads or sea walls, according to naval analyst Thomas Shugart.
“I did not see these things coming — that they were going to build something quite like this,” Shugart, a senior adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said by phone Tuesday.
Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense confirmed China’s development of the barges and said the ministry was working to “gather intelligence about its functions and limits,” spokesperson John Chun-En Wang said by email Tuesday.
Adm. John Aquilino, the former head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said in March 2024 that Chinese President Xi Jinping had ordered his military to be prepared for a Taiwan invasion by 2027. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Shugart, a retired Navy captain, said the construction of the barges suggests Beijing is moving forward with that timeline. He added that China’s massive shipbuilding capability could allow for the production of significantly more barges soon.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the barges address a major challenge for amphibious forces: quickly moving equipment from ships to shore.
“Being able to drive directly onto the beach speeds up the flow of equipment and allows the force ashore to expand rapidly and defend itself,” he said by email Tuesday. “They might also allow an invasion force to use shoreline that is otherwise unsuitable.”
Cancian noted that the barges could serve other purposes, such as delivering supplies to islands in the South China Sea.
“However, their usefulness in an invasion stands out,” he wrote.
Tzu-yun Su, director of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, described the barges as “very innovative” but also “fragile.”
Taiwan has prepared for various scenarios, including amphibious landings, and has positioned heavy artillery inland to defend its beaches, he said by email Tuesday.
Photos and video of the barges have circulated on social media in recent days, including footage that appears to show China testing them on a beach.
Cancian said he could not confirm the video’s authenticity but expressed confidence that the barges exist and that verified imagery would surface sooner or later.
Shugart said independent satellite images show an assembly of vessels consistent with the video on the coast of southern China near Zhanjiang.
