From cargo to combat: China urged to prepare civilian ships for wartime use

China should speed up plans to commandeer civilian ships for wartime operations, drawing lessons from Britain’s use of commercial vessels during the 1982 Falklands conflict, according to a defence researcher at Beijing’s top economic planning agency. As maritime security threats and great-power competition grow, Beijing should make greater use of civilian ships to support military operations, according to an article published last month in Defence Industry Conversion in China. “As China’s...

By Liu Zhen