China to Retrofit 172,000 Civilian Ships For: China is set to retrofit 172,000 of merchant ships for military purposes so they can be used in the event of a war, another disturbing indication of growing tensions between Beijing and Washington, reports the Diplomat.
Chinese civilian shipbuilders have to ensure that their vessels can be used by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) during times of ‘crisis’.
While the recruitment of civilian maritime assets for military purposes is not unusual, the recent announcement is nevertheless a sign of the growing aspirations of Chinese naval planners in developing naval expeditionary warfare capabilities.
The Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily, citing a notice by the China Classification Society, reported Beijing has approved a number of technical guidelines to be adopted by commercial and civilian shipbuilders that will ensure new vessels will be able to transform for use by the military in the event of an emergency.
The new “Technical Standards for New Civilian Ships to Implement National Defense Requirements” will apply to five types of vessels: container, roll-on/roll-off, multipurpose, bulk carrier and break bulk.
