China’s Autumn “Exercise”
RO/RO Vessels Participating
China In Arms BOOKSTORE and GIFT SHOP!
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6 September 2024 (Friday)
China’s Autumn “Exercise”
RO/RO Vessels Participating
By Wendell Minnick (Whiskey Mike) 顏文德
TAIPEI - China’s annual Autumn military exercises will begin annoying Taiwan on 10 September and will include roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) vessels for the first time.
Autumn exercises in the past include the August 2022 missile crisis that coincided with the then Speaker of the House’s, Nancy Pelosi, visit to Taiwan.
In July, five RO/RO were used north of Taiwan in an exercise for the first time, and now their first appearance in Taiwan’s area of operation has been semi-confirmed by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND).
On 4 September, MND announced:
“Since yesterday, various types of PLA aircraft, helicopters, drones have been detected, along with amphibious ships and roll on/roll-off cargo vessels loading ground forces, conducting joint landing drills near Dacheng Bay, Dongshan, Fujian [Province].”
The question for many in Taiwan defense circles is, is this practice for the invasion of the Taipei Port or the actual invasion itself. Most see the exercise as bigger and better, and perhaps even the beginning of the end of days for Taiwan, but not Zero Day.
At least, not yet.
Though in my opinion, this seems the perfect time for Beijing to hit the island with political chaos via the U.S. presidential election and the Pentagon’s continued failure to meet recruitment numbers and its precarious munition stocks depleted via Ukraine and Israel.
Also, will China launch missiles over Taiwan as it did in August 2022 as part of the annual exercise? Missile test launches over Taiwan would certainly indicate plans to delay the invasion for another day, but also serve as a harbinger of dark things to come.
In Taiwan, Tv news reports have already begun covering the early build-up for the exercise.
