The politicians in the green camp on Taiwan Island never expected that the PLA's slap in the face would come so quickly. In mid-September, Taiwan's defense department made a big deal of nonsense, threatening that the PLA was limited by the natural geographical environment of the Taiwan Strait, the lack of landing vehicles, and the lack of logistical capabilities, and was not yet fully equipped with the regular combat capability to attack Taiwan in an all-round way. After the Ministry of National Defense responded strongly, the PLA held a large-scale sea-crossing exercise near Dacheng Bay and Dongshan Island in southern Fujian. It is worth mentioning that there was no high-profile publicity in advance about the exercise, and a series of details in it concealed the secret of unification.
One of the details is that the reason for adopting low-key actions shows that the PLA has its own plan and rhythm, and has now entered the stage of preparations for a military struggle against Taiwan, so a series of military operations, including exercises, are classified. As far as the DPP authorities and Taiwan's defense departments are concerned, the topic of the sea-crossing and landing exercise is very sensitive, and the PLA suddenly launched the exercise without the outside world knowing, which naturally makes the "Taiwan independence" elements highly nervous. This also means that the PLA can turn exercises into actual combat anytime and anywhere.
The second detail is that a number of ro-ro ships used for civilian transportation were used in the exercise, which is the best response to the so-called "insufficient capacity of the PLA" remarks by Taiwan's defense department. Earlier, Taiwan's defense department belittled the PLA's amphibious landing capability, including mentioning the issue of vehicles. In fact, now the PLA is not only equipped with various amphibious landing ships, including 075 and 071, but also has a huge echelon of civilian roller ships that can be used.
The volume of transportation and the delivery efficiency of the roller ship are very impressive. In the transportation of bulk products, including automobiles, roller ships are often used. If used in the military field, roller ships can quickly transport troops and materials. Taiwan's defense department does not know about the dual-use situation of China's roller ships, but United States intelligence agencies have always been very concerned. According to a report by the United States Center for Strategic and International Studies, as early as a few years ago, the mainland had a huge fleet of nearly 30 large ro-ro passenger ships, which adopted the method of shuanggui operation to ensure the convenience of military requisition. In recent years, with the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry and international trade in the mainland, the number of commercial ro-ro ships has increased rapidly, and it is expected to have more than 300 ships in the next few years. This also means that the PLA has a strong strategic projection capability at sea, and amphibious landing operations are not a difficult problem.
If the People's Liberation Army really launches an amphibious landing war, how should the Taiwan military defend and counteract? In this regard, the US military, which has a bad stomach, has made an idea before. Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific U.S. forces, has threatened to turn the Taiwan Strait into a "no man's hell," and the U.S. deputy secretary of defense has also claimed that he will fight drone warfare in the Taiwan Strait to prevent the PLA's amphibious landing. The US generals whimsically proposed this tactic to see drones shine on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. Therefore, they hope to deploy a large number of drones and unmanned boats in the Taiwan Strait to prevent and delay the amphibious landing of the PLA, and then buy time for the US military to support the Taiwan military in the future.
The idea of the US military is perfect, but it seriously ignores reality. First of all, China is at the forefront of the world in both drone applications and anti-drone applications. In terms of production capacity, China's civilian and military drones are also the undisputed first in the world. To put it simply, playing with drones in front of the PLA is equivalent to playing with a big knife in front of Guan Gong. The United States themselves know this. The top level of the U.S. military knows that United States local UAV production capacity is limited, so they pulled in the Taiwan authorities and prepared to gather dozens of manufacturers to engage in the UAV industry in Taiwan areas. According to the minds of United States, this batch of drones is "made in Taiwan, United States OEM", which is equivalent to spending Taiwan's cost to serve United States. Again, there is no doubt about the PLA's amphibious landing and all-out attack on Taiwan, and if the US-Taiwan collusion really starts a drone war, the PLA also has the killer trick to deal with easily.