China's Container Ship Fleet: Economic Savior or Trojan Horse?
I suppose a container-based invasion of Taiwan could happen albeit I am not certain how feasible. At any rate these huge containers could be used to implement other types of clandestine operations and in countries other than Taiwan.
India and China have formed a strategic partnership and agreed to boost bilateral trade to $20 billion by 2008. Last year, trade totaled $13.6 billion.
The agreement does not involve defense arrangements, so it will not give Chinese ships the use of Indian ports. #msg-6014621
The big question is will Chinese commercial ships have access to Indian ports? The China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) is actually an arm of the Chinese military establishment and in this manner the Chinese navy would then be admitted to Indian ports.
In the Cox Report issued by Congress, it stated that the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) is actually an arm of the Chinese military establishment.** [COSCO is a large conglomerate making international shipping as its core business and encompassing shipping agency, forwarding, air freight forwarding, terminals and warehousing, inland haulage, trade, industry, financial affairs, insurance, real estate, tourism, contract employment and medium-level and higher education, It is one of the 56 big Group of enterprises approved by the State. #msg-4024852
China does have access to Pakistan’s Gwadar deep-sea port which would place the Chinese navy next to Iran’s shipping lane the Strait of Hormuz.
-Am
China's Container Ship Fleet: Economic Savior or Trojan Horse?
China's Container Ship Fleet: Economic Savior or Trojan Horse? Frederick Stakelbeck, Jr. - 4/11/2005
Homer's two great epic tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, describe heroic actions of indomitable figures such as Achilles and Agamemnon during the Trojan War. Under the guise of increased economic cooperation and friendship, could this epic tale of deception be resurrected and used by China in a spectacular, lightening invasion of Taiwan? Could the hollow hulls and empty decks of Chinese container ships carry infantry and mechanized divisions for a devastating attack on Taiwan, securing the island before the U.S. could respond? The thought of mammoth Chinese container ships carrying an amphibious invasion force across the Strait of Taiwan is certainly frightening. But the capability for just such an invasion is slowly being put in place. The Chinese have plans to build several 90,000 ton-plus container ships capable of carrying 8,530-TEUs (Twenty Feet Equivalent Units). In an agreement announced in November 2004, Chinese shipbuilder Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd. announced it will deliver 4-5 of the giant container ships to the China Shipping Group by October 2008. When completed, the new ships will surpass the Republic of Korea's 8,000-TEU as the largest container ships in the world. Supplementing increased construction and advances in the container ship industry have been developments in China's amphibious capabilities. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is building amphibious ships at a breakneck pace. The ships include nine large Yuting 072- II class LSTH; the Yunshu class LSM; a new 64 meter LCU; a number of medium landing ships; and the construction of LSDs and LPDs with flight decks for attack helicopters. Solidifying China's stranglehold on the world's merchant fleet is the country's rapid ascension as a world leader in commercial ship repair and conversion services. These complex projects can now be completed at a number of shipyards throughout China. China's largest ship repair organization, the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) Shipyard, operates the Nantong shipyard near Shanghai which is increasingly handling tanker, container and bulk carrier repairs and conversions. Separately, the Dailan and Guangzhou shipyards, among the country's largest repair facilities, also expect rapid growth and increased investment in the near future. The largest producer of ship containers in the world is also a Chinese company. China International Marine Containers (CIMC) ranks as the world leader in container manufacturing with over 40 percent of the international container market. These containers can be custom built to specifications with louvered vents and electric power added to make a working, livable environment that is virtually sound-proof. Containers can also be armored and include partitions to conceal individuals or large items. Entranced by economic opportunity, the Taiwanese are inadvertently making a possible Chinese container ship invasion a reality. In May 2004, ground was broken for construction of the first container center at the Port of Taipei. The new center is expected to save several hundred million dollars in transport costs and make the port an attractive location for investment. Located at the mouth of the Danshuei River in northern Taiwan, the Port of Taipei is one-hundred and thirty-four miles from Fuzhou Harbor in mainland China. Further improvements to the Port of Taipai's transportation infrastructure are scheduled for completion in 2008 - the same year that the last of the great 90,000 ton container ships will be delivered to the China Shipping Group. Included in these improvements will be the completion of the Bali-Wugu section of an east-west expressway. This will allow for the easy transport of containers from the Port of Taipei via the expressway, or a link with Chiang Kai-shek International Airport via the West Coast Highway, which is currently being widened. A Chinese invasion of Taiwan has been compared by some to the allied invasion of Normandy and McArthur's landing at Inchon during the Korean War. The D-Day Normandy invasion of 1944 transported 176,000 amphibious troops; used three airborne divisions; 10,000 aircraft, 136 warships, 3,000 landing craft and 2,000 support ships. Available intelligence reports suggest that the Chinese can assemble 15,000 amphibious troops, three airborne divisions, 3,300 aircraft, 60 warships and 300 landing craft for an invasion of Taiwan. In addition, a support force of 50,000 ground troops of the Chinese 31st Army Group now deployed at the Nanjing Military Region could be made available for an invasion with another 250,000 troops loaded onto container ships for an assault on Taiwan. According to Wang Jisi, Director of the Chinese Institute of Strategy at the Central Party School, "the danger of war truly exists. We are not a paper tiger. We are a real tiger." In theory, a covert assault using Chinese container ships is possible. But like the Normandy invasion, most, if not all, of the operational and contingency planning involved in such a large-scale amphibious invasion would have to be precise and error-free. A fleet of container ships would have to unload men and material in an extremely fast, cohesive manner, probably under constant fire from Taiwanese ground, navel and air forces. Loading docks in the Port of Taipei would need to be cleared for immediate military offloading operations. Major roads leading out of the port would have to be secured by airborne units of the Chinese 43rd, 44th and 45th divisions or advance units of a special operations force (SOF) attached to the invading amphibious force. Once secured, the port would require continuous patrolling to propel a retaliatory navel or air assault on container ships unloading at the port. Air cover using a combination of attack helicopters and fighters from the decks of ships in port or from airfields secured by Chinese airborne units would be necessary. The imposition of a rigorous navel shield using China's fleet of diesel and nuclear powered submarines would be needed to diminish threats from the United States and its allies. French Exocet SM-39 anti-ship missiles known as "carrier killers," 3M-80 Moskit Sunburn missiles, developed by the Chinese specifically to defeat the U.S. Aegis air-defense system, or cruise missiles launched from Russian made Su-30 fighters could also be used to attack U.S. assets in the Pacific. Deployed on submarines, fighters, frigates, or mainland China, cruise missiles could inflict considerable damage and innumerable casualties on U.S. Navel Forces in the early hours of a conflict. This would effectively mitigate an overwhelming response from the U.S. and prompt a tactical regrouping of U.S. forces for a coordinated counteroffensive that could take several weeks or months to organize. A southern Chinese invasion force made up of container ships and Chinese naval support ships could land near the ancient city of Tinan situated on the southwestern coastal plains of Taiwan. As one of the island's largest cities with a population of approximately 700,000 residents, Tinan's transportation system includes a major airport that if secured by Chinese airborne units, would allow for accelerated troop movements north. The Tinan Airport already accepts flights from two China-based airlines -- the Great China Airlines and China Airlines, so the airport is well-known to Chinese military strategists. Railway lines and highways leading north to Taipei already exist and are large enough to handle large supply trucks, tanks and armored vehicles. Adding credibility to the argument of a possible Chinese container-based invasion of Taiwan, the United States itself is now considering using container ships in support of navel operations and plans to explore the conversion of container ships for military purposes. Working with Maersk Line Ltd., the U.S. Navy is considering its Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF) Future Program with a modified S-class commercial container ship. The 1,140 feet long ship is designed to offload cargo for 6,000 troops and maintain a flight deck for the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Working with architectural firm Gibbs & Cox and ship conversion company Norshipco, the proposed ship will be outfitted with ramps, a loading platform and stern and bow thrusters. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2007. Hovercrafts would be used to deliver cargo to shore.
China has embarked on a determined mission to surpass both Japan and South Korea as the world's leading shipbuilder. The Chinese can now offer state-of-the-art shipbuilding, repair and conversion services as a result of increased domestic and foreign investment in maritime modernization projects. With improved shipbuilding production methods, modern capital equipment for its shipyards, and significant progress in the areas of ship design, China's shipbuilding industry deserves the attention of the U.S. and its Pacific allies as a possible national security threat.
Would China undertake a container-based invasion of Taiwan? This is an intriguing question which merits our attention as China approaches superpower status.
Frederick W. Stakelbeck, Jr. is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia
And far from joining the United States in some strategic alliance or understanding to surround and contain China, the current Indian government looks set to dramatically further upgrade ties with its northern neighbor, freeing China to concentrate its forces and strategic concerns on the possibility of eventually having to confront the United States over Taiwan.
UPI May 30, 2005, 13:27
The warm and successful visit of China's top military officer to New Delhi last week has confirmed the lesson of the F-16s sale to Pakistan: India under its Congress government puts detente with China above partnership with America.
India and China are going to increase their confidence-building measures across their border. Visiting Chinese army chief Gen. Liang Guanglie made the proposals in his meetings with Indian leaders and security chiefs Wednesday and they were believed to include an increase in military-to-military exchanges.
"The defense minister shared his (Liang's) view that the two sides and armed forces must work to promote peace and tranquility on the border and promote stability and development in Asia," an Indian defense ministry spokesman said.
On Thursday, the head of the Indian army announced that the armies of both giant nations were going to hold unprecedented joint counter-terrorism and peacekeeping training programs.
Gen. Joginder Jaswant Singh said the plans had been discussed with Gen. Liang. He said that border tensions between the two countries had eased so much that young soldiers from both armies were already going on joint mountaineering expeditions, playing volleyball matches and even and sharing meals on their inaccessible Himalayan joint border area.
"The momentum given by the leaders of our two countries is being enhanced further by the two militaries," Singh told reporters.
"On the roadmap of military-to-military cooperation in the future (are) exercises where both countries could carry out together to counter terrorism or on UN missions," he said.
Also on Wednesday, India offered to hold a second round of naval exercises with China off the Indian coast. Adm. Arun Prakash, chairman of India's Chiefs of Staff Committee and naval chief, made the offer to Gen. Liang who expressed his support for the idea, according to a Press Trust of India report.
The two countries' navies held a joint exercise off the Shanghai coast in November 2003. Indian military observers were also invited to witness Chinese People's Liberation Army exercises in 2004.
Liang further met Wednesday with Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee and expressed optimism on the progress of talks to solve the vexed boundary issue between the two countries. He also met with National Security Adviser M K Narayanan.
Liang's six-day visit was the first by a Chinese armed forces chief of staff to India in seven years. It followed the April visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
India-China relations have been warming over the past two years since even before Congress shocked the world by unexpectedly and decisively routing the pro-American Hindu nationalist led government of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Bharatiya Janata Party.
The two countries had already signed cooperation documents during the visit to China of former Indian Army chief Gen. N.C. Vij in December, and they held joint naval exercises in November 2003. Beijing invited the Indian Army to observe military exercises in China last September.
The warmth of Gen. Liang's visit contrasted with the fury of India's leaders in March when President George W. Bush revealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that he had approved selling 70 nuclear-capable F-16 fighter-bombers to India's arch-enemy, neighboring Pakistan.
The F-16s may well significantly shift the air balance of power in Pakistan's favor as they have far more advanced electronics than India's Russian supplied Sukhoi interceptors.
The Indians also noted that the Bush administration has extended its current generous aid levels to Pakistan of $3 billion year until 2009, with no time cap at the end so that they can be indefinitely renewed.
And the just-approved "9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act" includes a waiver on all remaining U.S. sanctions on Pakistan for the next two years.
India's leaders are concerned that the new wave of U.S. largesse to Pakistan will embolden Pakistan's shrewd and tough President Pervez Musharraf and possibly encourage him to take a tougher, less conciliatory line toward New Delhi.
However, ultimately, it is the Bush administration's cornucopia of financial support and state of the art weapons to Pakistan that is the main cause for the souring of the U.S.-India honeymoon.
If senior U.S. officials wanted to reassure Singh's Congress-led government they were a different breed from the old Nixon and Reagan teams that dumped India to court Pakistan, they have signally failed to do so.
Strategic engagement between the United States and India is still far from dead. Bush administration leaders remain enamored of the idea and India has a lot to gain from enjoying increased access to world leading U.S. military technology.
In particular, New Delhi has welcomed U.S. ioffers to sell F-18s for its future expanded carrier fleet in the Indian Ocean as well as for its land-based air force.
The F-18s would be a massive improvement on India's aging Russian-supplied interceptors, with their inferior electronic equipment and often-troublesome lack of sufficient spare parts.
However, Gen. Liang's productive visit serves notice to Washington that the Congress government is determined to improve ties with China, not confront it.
And far from joining the United States in some strategic alliance or understanding to surround and contain China, the current Indian government looks set to dramatically further upgrade ties with its northern neighbor, freeing China to concentrate its forces and strategic concerns on the possibility of eventually having to confront the United States over Taiwan.
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