China is conducting two days of military exercises, using a combination of civilian and military ships to land troops on the ground.
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00:00Taiwan is monitoring Chinese military aircraft, drones and warships that are all taking part
00:06in drills just 350 kilometers west of Taiwan's main island here in Dacheng Bay, which is
00:12near China's Fujian province.
00:15These military exercises are part of a planned two-day drill, which simulate how China would
00:21move equipment and troops from warships that are stationed out here in the Taiwan Strait
00:26and practice how to move these troops inland and land on the beach.
00:31This is concerning for Taiwan because Beijing has threatened to invade Taiwan, which it
00:35claims is part of its territory.
00:37What's interesting about this drill is the use of these ships, which are known as roll-off,
00:44roll-on vessels.
00:45These are also known as row-rows.
00:47These are civilian ferries which carry people, cars, equipment and shipping containers filled
00:52with goods.
00:54Because they're so easy to roll on and roll off, there is a concern that China's military
00:59might use these ferries to maximize its ability to bring troops and equipment onto the beach.
01:06Now, earlier I spoke to Derek Grossman, he's a security analyst with the RAND Corporation
01:11based in Los Angeles, and he says that these row-rows could play a big challenge for Taiwan's
01:16military.
01:17China is constantly trying to improve its military capabilities to attack or invade
01:26Taiwan.
01:27And so the row-rows are definitely a part of that.
01:31This is an amphibious landing capability that they are trying to perfect.
01:38And that is something that we're obviously keeping a close watch on.
01:43Now experts here in Taiwan recently said that China doesn't quite have the ability
01:47to invade and land troops on a beach just yet, but that these drills are part of Beijing's
01:52push to get to that point.
01:54And so what Taiwan's military is doing is just keeping on the lookout and monitoring
01:57those exercises so it can adapt its own defenses and manage those threats that it's seeing
02:02across the Taiwan Strait.