China is building a mysterious new ship with some of the features of an amphibious assault craft or a civilian ocean research vessel, recent satellite imagery suggests.
The vessel, which is being built by Guangzhou Shipyard International on Longxue island in southern China, has a large open flight deck, according to pictures taken by Planet Earth last Wednesday and published by US military platform The Warzone on Monday.
Its configuration resembles a light aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ships, such as Japan’s Hyuga class helicopter destroyer or China’s 075 assault ships, according to Tom Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Washington-based security think tank Centre for a New American Security.
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Shugart, who circulated the images on X, formerly Twitter, posted that the ship appears to be 200 metres (655ft) long with a beam of about 40 metres, and asked whether it was “possibly a new aircraft carrier or amphibious assault ship of some sort” or even a “‘research’ carrier”.
The Warzone also highlighted the possibility the new ship had been designed to carry military aircraft, saying: “China does have a long history of developing and fielding new maritime scientific research capabilities with clear potential military applicability.”
Shugart also said his attention had been drawn by a 60-metre uncrewed trimaran that is being built nearby by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s No 716 Research Institute. The Chinese authorities have not commented on either ship, nor confirmed their purpose.
The shipbuilder has described the trimaran as having a “long-endurance and fully domestically developed propulsion system” and said it “could independently carry out missions under different scenarios”.
The Warzone pointed out the similarities to the US Navy’s Seahunter drone ship, which is designed for anti-submarine warfare.
Beijing has been building up both its navy and fleet of civilian research vessels in recent years and now has 64 of the latter in use, according to a recent report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
Although the country has been looking to expand its scientific research it has been accused of blurring the line between civilian and military technology.
But in recent years, the voyages of its civilian ocean research ships have raised alarm among various parties who are concerned about the blurred boundaries between China’s military and civil technologies.
For example, the Xiang Yang Hong class of ocean survey ships were originally built for the military before being transferred to the civilian fleet.
In February, Sri Lanka refused to allow China’s research ship Xiang Yang Hong 03 to dock at its port, reportedly under pressure from its neighbour India, which has accused Chinese research ships of “spying” on its military.
In July, Taiwanese coastguards warned off a mainland research ship that had come within 20 nautical miles (37km) of the island’s coastline. Taipei said the approach was part of Beijing’s “grey zone” tactics to pressure the island without resorting to full-scale war.
More from South China Morning Post:
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