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A screen grab of a video released by the People’s Liberation Army showing amphibious assault landing and island-control exercises involving marines and other special fighting units, as the Chinese navy celebrates its 73rd anniversary this weekend. Photo: Weibo

Beijing marks 73rd anniversary of Chinese navy with video of amphibious landing, island-control drills

  • CCTV series coincides with defence minister telling his US counterpart not to underestimate Beijing’s determination or ability to defend its interests
  • Use of PLA paratroopers in recent drills appears influenced by the failures of the Russian military during invasion of Ukraine, according to analyst
Taiwan
The People’s Liberation Army has released video footage of amphibious assault landings and island-control exercises involving marines and other special fighting units as the PLA Navy prepares to celebrate its 73rd anniversary this weekend.
Several clips have been broadcast this week, coinciding with China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe telling his American counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call on Wednesday not to underestimate Beijing’s determination or ability to defend its national interests and dignity over the Taiwan issue.

Video shown on the state-owned China Central Television (CCTV) on Tuesday depicted at least a dozen ZTD-05 amphibious assault vehicles sending marines to attack a simulated enemy base during a recent island seizure drill. Airborne troops landed on the island from Z-8 transport helicopters soon after the marines wiped out all key military assets.

Chinese state media CCTV is broadcasting a series of documentaries to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the PLA navy on Saturday Photo:Weibo

Other CCTV reports this week showed almost all airborne troops in the Eastern and Southern theatre commands – which would be responsible for a “Taiwan reunification” war – being dropped by transport aircraft into unfamiliar places at night for infiltration and control drills.

On Wednesday, CCTV said a recent exercise featured dozens of camouflaged airborne troops dropped by helicopter to approach an “enemy base” for close-in reconnaissance. The paratroopers were reported to operate sophisticated equipment to communicate with army aviation colleagues using classified digital communication codes.

The drill wrapped up after armed helicopters staged full-scale attacks to destroy all the enemy’s key military assets, guided by intelligence from the paratroopers.

“It’s very easy to be spotted [by enemies] if we let aerial surveillance aircraft take close-in reconnaissance tasks in a single one-unit strategy,” Li Jianjun, a pilot with the 74th Army Group based in Huizhou, Guangdong province, told CCTV.

Li said the joint operation exercises would help the aviation team enhance combat ability, with airborne troops helping assess hostile targets and stage accurate assaults.

Corruption, nuclear weapons and humility: lessons for China from Russia’s war

The specific role of paratroopers in the PLA’s recent joint operation training indicated the mainland had learned from the performance of Russia’s military, which had let its airborne force lead the “full-scale military operation” during its invasion of Ukraine, Shanghai-based military analyst Ni Lexiong said.

“The failure of Russian elite airborne troops to control Kyiv in a few days, which caused the endless Ukraine war, has provided a valuable reference for the PLA in its combat preparation for a Taiwan contingency,” Ni said.

This week, the PLA Navy also showed off video of its advanced YJ-21, or Eagle Strike-21, hypersonic anti-ship missile that was launched by the country’s largest Type 055 destroyer and carried by a H-6N bomber.

Zhou Chenming, a researcher from the Yuan Wang military science and technology think tank in Beijing, said the footage and amphibious assault drills were aimed at warning Taiwan’s ruling party, which was attempting to tie the self-ruled island to the Ukraine geopolitical situation and hoped the United States would provide the same military aid if Beijing decided to take it by force.

‘Almost zero’ chance US would send troops to defend Taiwan if mainland China attacked

In the series of documentaries to mark the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the PLA Navy on Saturday, CCTV said that over the past decade the PLA Marines Corps and its affiliated special troops had become an all-weather, multirole special amphibious fighting force able to fight in highlands, jungles, water and other extreme environments.

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