The People's Republic of China has developed a marine corps for maritime and amphibious operations. However, instead of being designed to invade Taiwan as expected by many Western experts, China's marine corps appears to have been created for South Sea expansion. A major upgrading of weapons, structure and support is making the Chinese marines an increasingly viable threat to nearby islands. A unique People's Liberation Army (PLA) marine corps likely has existed for only 25 years, rather than the 40 or 50 years believed by some scholars. Although China has claimed the existence of marines as a threat to invade Taiwan since the 1950s, these forces probably did not exist before 1980 other than as sailors and soldiers being trained in amphibious landings. Even today, China's marines still lack the personnel and naval assets to overcome the challenges of an opposed landing against a prepared Taiwan defensive shoreline.
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