But security analysts have proposed that the latest expansion is to allow for nuclear submarine bays.
Military news database GlobalSecurity.org said that intelligence had found four new trestles for submarines, each 229 meters long, that can accommodate 16 submarines.
Intelligence sources also stated the base will be made secure for China s aircraft carriers.
Remote-sensing equipment are also expected to be based at the Yulin site.
China s aircraft carriers will be docked at the expanded base (Image: GETTY)
China s military troops (Image: GETTY)
Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Taiwan’s Tamkang University said: “It’s going to be kind of a future-oriented construction. It takes time.
English By Ralph Jennings Share on Facebook TAIPEI - China’s People s Liberation Army has expanded a navy base on the South China Sea, giving its fleet more clout in a strategic waterway disputed by five other countries and watched closely by Washington, security analysts say.
Over at least the past year, China’s navy expanded Yulin Naval Base on the island province of Hainan from a conventional submarine facility into a bay that berths nuclear submarines, military news database GlobalSecurity.org said. Four trestles for submarines, each 229 meters long, can accommodate 16 submarines, it says. Aircraft carriers and remote-sensing equipment are also expected to be based at or near Yulin, the site and other analysts say.
China appears to have been expanding naval bases positioned near the contested and strategically important South China Sea, according to new satellite images. The new expansions appear to configure the two bases to support an aircraft carrier and carrier-launched aircraft.
New satellite images obtained by the private satellite intelligence firm ShadowBreak Intl. and reported by USNI News, appear to show new drydocks for warships at a Chinese naval base at Sanya, located in Hainan, and expanded hangar facilities at an airbase just a few miles further along the Hainan coastline.
“Looks like PLAN is expanding its airbase at Sanya, Hainan,” a Twitter user posted, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). The tweet included images purporting to show new hangar space and repair stations near a runway on the Chinese navy base.
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Sputnik International
Taiwan Invasion Buildup? China To Base Type 075 Amphibious Assault Ship In Hainan
KEY POINTS
The assault ship, China s largest, can carry 30 helicopters and hundreds of troops
Beijing recently carried out a large military exercise in the provinces bordering Taiwan to simulate an invasion
China is likely to deploy its first Type 075 ship in the South China Sea, possibly to strengthen its capabilitis for an attack on Taiwan, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.
The amphibious assault ship currently berthed in Sanya on the southern island of Hainan as shown by satellite images obtained by Washington think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies may be tasked with monitoring the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, according to War Industry Black Technology, a social media account run by a former PLA official, the South China Morning Post said in a report.