China has likely fitted cruise missiles inside shipping containers to be used for surprise attacks in the event of war, a military analyst has warned.
Rick Fisher, of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, believes Beijing could use the system to weaponise its huge fleet of commercial shipping vessels or else sneak the missiles into foreign ports before launching them remotely.
These attacks could be used to knock out coastal defences to prepare the way for an invasion or to sow chaos and confusion as a distraction tactic while China launches an attack elsewhere, Mr Fisher believes.
China is thought to be working on a cruise missile launch system mounted inside a shipping container for use during surprise attacks (pictured, a similar Russian design concept)
The Chinese system is thought to be based on a Russian design concept called Club-K that was first shown off at a military design expo in 2016 (pictured)
Mr Fisher first sounded the alarm about the system in 2019, when he warned that China was likely developing it based on a similar concept produced by a Russia defence firm back in 2016.
A newly-published paper by the Stockton Center for International Law talks about a Chinese container system, saying: 'Once perfected, it will provide China with a long-range precision strike capability that can engage both surface combatants and land-based targets.'
Speaking to The Sun following the publication of that paper, Mr Fisher said: 'The Chinese Communist Party is fully capable of using containerized missiles to sow chaos when desired.'
Attacks would include 'using larger container ships, thousands of fishing ships or stored containers in ports, to undertake military or terror mission strikes in a manner that can be denied if desired,' he added.
The Russian system, dubbed Club-K, was designed as a launch pad for its Kaliber cruise missiles, with up to four of them fitted inside a container that also carries launch controls and targeting systems.
China's own cruise missile - the YJ-18 - is based on the Russian Kaliber, leading some analysts to conclude that Beijing is
