DEFENSE/New report shows PLA prioritizing joint island-landing capabilities: Analyst

Taipei, Sept. 1 (CNA) The Ministry of National Defense's 2026 report on China's military power, submitted to the Legislative Yuan on Monday, places greater emphasis than last year's report on the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) efforts to strengthen its capabilities for a potential landing operation on Taiwan, according to an analyst.

Chieh Chung (揭仲), an adjunct associate research fellow at Taiwan's government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), said the report suggested that improving joint island-landing capabilities and completing military transformation had become the PLA's priorities for force development over the coming years.

"Those efforts do not appear to have been significantly affected by the gaps in the PLA's chain of command caused by [Chinese President] Xi Jinping's (習近平) large-scale purge of senior military officials," Chieh noted.

From sea to air

In the report's "weapons acquisition" section, the PLA Ground Force (PLAGF) is described as upgrading and modifying the Z-20 utility helicopter and developing unmanned transport helicopters, while the Air Force is replacing existing equipment with new airborne infantry fighting vehicles, transport vehicles and mortar carriers, Chieh said.

Meanwhile, the "military training" section says PLA Army Aviation helicopter units are conducting fuel and ammunition resupply operations using offshore platforms, he said.

These developments are closely linked to the PLA's efforts in recent years to transform its joint island-landing capabilities, Chieh said.

Under the concept envisioned after the transformation, the first wave of attacking forces would consist primarily of troops transported by aircraft and helicopters into Taiwan's main island, allowing them to bypass Taiwan's coastal defenses, including drones, unmanned surface vessels and anti-ship missiles, he said.

Amphibious landings

The weapons acquisition section also says the PLA Navy will build the Type 076 amphibious assault ship and new types of amphibious landing barges, including self-elevating amphibious landing barges and "water-bridge" amphibious landing vessels, Chieh said.

The landing barges are designed to address major shortcomings in the PLA's existing "pierless unloading" equipment, including its inability to cross the Taiwan Strait and operate effectively under Taiwan's maritime conditions, he said.

They would allow follow-on waves of troops and supplies to be rapidly brought ashore even if Taiwan's ports had been destroyed and rendered unusable, making the equipment critical to the PLA's efforts to improve its joint island-landing capabilities, Chieh said.

Cyber, electronic warfare

Beyond frontline combat units, the report contains new material on PLA efforts to enhance joint island-landing capabilities through military space, cyberspace, information support and logistics equipment, Chieh said.

For the first time, China's military space forces are said to be planning to deploy low-Earth orbit communications satellite constellations, including Guowang and Qianfan, and develop fourth-generation BeiDou navigation satellites to help prevent the PLA's communications and navigation from being disrupted by Taiwan or the U.S. after a landing, he said.

The cyberspace forces are also focusing on AI-based deepfake technology to strengthen hybrid warfare capabilities and deploying mobile electronic warfare and reconnaissance vehicles to bolster the offensive and defensive capabilities of PLA landing forces.

The branch also plans to acquire new network, space-ground networking and information-fusion equipment to enhance their mobile cyberwarfare capabilities, Chieh said.

Meanwhile, joint logistics and support forces are focusing on battlefield medical evacuation and treatment, as many casualties in a cross-strait operation would occur outside mainland China, either on Taiwan or in surrounding waters.

Preparations for the 2030s

Although the 2026 report provides a more detailed account of the PLA's measures to improve its joint island-landing capabilities, it also notes that the PLA's capabilities in conducting such operations remain inadequate at this stage.

Chieh said that while the ministry's assessment was consistent with the current situation, "the report as a whole nevertheless shows that the PLA is accelerating preparations for a potential armed invasion of Taiwan."

He estimated that the various programs could be completed in stages between 2030 and 2035.