China’s military staged a high-profile amphibious landing drill across the Taiwan Strait on the first anniversary of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s inauguration, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
According to the report, units from the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) 73rd Group Army conducted a beach landing exercise using Type 05 series amphibious vehicles along the coastline of Fujian province.
The exercise included simulated assault landings from 1.5 kilometers offshore, obstacle navigation, and coordinated maneuvers in what appeared to be a tactical readiness operation.
The 73rd Group Army is headquartered in Xiamen, directly opposite Taiwan’s Kinmen Islands — a location only two kilometers from the Chinese mainland. The choice of unit and training site underscores the drill’s strategic messaging amid ongoing tensions between Beijing and Taipei.
Chinese state media said the exercise featured two primary variants of the Type 05 amphibious vehicle platform: the ZBD-05 infantry fighting vehicle equipped with a 30mm autocannon, and the ZTD-05 fire support version armed with a 105mm low-recoil gun. Both variants are fully amphibious and can achieve up to 30 kilometers per hour in water by retracting their track system and engaging high-powered jet propulsion.
The Type 05 family, weighing approximately 26.5 tons, is designed for rapid deployment from sea to shore and is a key component in the PLA’s amphibious assault capability. Its land-based range is reported to be 500 kilometers, powered by a 550-horsepower diesel engine.
Though the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not issue a formal statement on the timing of the exercise, its alignment with President Lai’s one-year anniversary in office was widely viewed by analysts as a deliberate signal.
China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province, has ramped up military pressure over the past year, including frequent air and naval incursions near the island. While the PLA describes such exercises as routine, the scale and proximity of this operation reflect a sustained posture aimed at deterring any moves toward Taiwanese independence.