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【#1417】China’s War Preparations Extend to Logistics

Maki Nakagawa ／ 2026.11.11 (Wed)


November 9, 2026

　
This year, scattered reports have emerged that medical officers from China’s Naval Medical University boarded frontline naval vessels to conduct joint casualty care training. As the Chinese military accelerates preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan, with the centennial of its founding in 2027 as a key milestone, war preparations appear to be steadily advancing not only on the operational front but also on the logistical front.

Naval Medical University conducted joint training with naval ships

According to the People’s Liberation Army Daily newspaper on September 24, the Naval Medical University conducted open-sea medical support training in the Southern Theater Command in cooperation with a military hospital and naval ships. The exercise involved triaging casualties sustained during maritime combat and evacuating them through a three-tier treatment system: (1) emergency care aboard combat vessels, (2) basic treatment aboard replenishment ships, and (3) specialized treatment aboard a hospital ship.

On October 22, training of the Naval Medical University’s 905th Hospital in the Eastern Theater Command was reported on the news channel of the state-run China Central Television. Emphasizing the need to treat casualties wounded during maritime combat, the hospital conducted training for triage, surgery, and the treatment of serious injuries on an amphibious assault ship.

While the Naval Medical University has previously participated in shipboard medical support training, these were conducted mainly on hospital ships and training vessels rather than combat vessels. The Southern and Eastern Theater Commands, which conducted the training, are responsible for the South China Sea and the East China Sea, respectively. Both appear to be accelerating medical support training required for operations within their respective areas of responsibility.

In general, during wartime, military educational institutions suspend education in accordance with the phase and scale of military operations and assign instructors as well as enrolled personnel to operational units. The series of training may indicate that the Naval Medical University is conducting joint training with theater navy forces under its wartime personnel assignment plans or conducting evaluation in preparation for such training.

Replacements of purged generals are demonstrating their abilities

The Chinese military has been advancing war preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan in terms of equipment and legal systems as demonstrated by the test firing of a submarine-launched strategic missile into the Pacific in July and the revision of the National Defense Mobilization Law in August. The latest medical support trainings suggest that war preparations are expanding to the logistical front.

At the fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, which ended on October 29, the expulsion of 16 senior military officials from the party was announced. However, many of them had been suspended from their positions nearly a year earlier. Within the military, officials who are more able and loyal to President Xi Jinping may have already been fully demonstrating their abilities. They are likely to accelerate war preparations, including stockpiling, mobilization, and other measures to strengthen war-sustaining capabilities.

Maki Nakagawa is a researcher at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals and a former commander of the Basic Intelligence Unit, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.