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

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,...