Is China quietly preparing cargo ships to transform into military vessels in case of war?

Is China quietly preparing cargo ships to transform into military vessels in case of war?
Yuanyue Dang in Beijing and William Zheng in Hong Kong 26 Dec 2025

Containers bear the words ‘plan for the maritime revival of the Chinese nation and the community of shared future for mankind in the ocean’

Images of a cargo ship in Shanghai carrying containerised vertical launchers, sensors and self-defence systems have spread online and prompted discussion for apparently showing China’s capacity to convert civilian cargo vessels to military purposes.

The circulated images show vertical launch systems, rotary phased-array radars, over-the-horizon radars, close-in weapon systems and decoy launchers mounted atop containers on a cargo vessel.

This configuration appears to be a temporary installation, seemingly aimed at converting the merchant vessel into a heavily armed surface combatant.

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