THIS secretive Chinese special forces unit could play a key role in dictator Xi Jinping’s plot to seize Taiwan.

Ever since Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, the world has held its breath to see if Beijing will follow suit and annex its neighbour.

Unlike the Russian army, China’s military suffers from a chronic lack of recent battlefield experience.

Beijing’s troops haven’t seen active combat in a full scale war since the 1970s, when China fought briefly against Vietnam.

But China’s elite 7th Marine Brigade – also known as the Sea Dragons – is kept at “high readiness” for conflict, and has experience in operations around the world.

This secretive unit has been deployed in China’s counter-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden – and played a key role in evacuating Chinese nationals from the war in Yemen.

They are often seen as China’s answer to the elite US Navy Seals.

As Beijing’s sabre-rattling across the Taiwan Strait grows louder, The Sun has spoken to leading military experts to find out how this unit could play a devastating role in such a war.

Analyst Alexis Turek of the Coalition Defense of Taiwan Project said: “Any sort of amphibious operation in Taiwan is incredibly difficult. 

“It’s going to be significantly more difficult than the Normandy invasion [in 1944].

“Part of that is because China is very unprepared and they haven’t done this before.”

She explained that one Chinese dictator Xi Jinping’s main military goals has been expanding the power of the Chinese Navy to prime Beijing’s war-readiness.

Over the past decade, China has vastly expanded its naval capabilities, including building two massive home-grown aircraft carriers.

“It’s certainly true that they’re not quite at the level of the US,” Turek added. “There’s a difference between having very powerful forces, and knowing how to conduct these sorts of operations.”

But while the rest of the Chinese military remains untested in battle, the Sea Dragons’ experience and training could make them a force to be reckoned with.

Alison O’Neil, a China researcher at the Institute for the Study of War, told The Sun: “This brigade is specifically trained for urban warfare and urban counter-terrorism. The 7th Brigade is kept at high readiness.”

Much of their experience comes from battling pirates in the Gulf of Aden, where the Sea Dragons have cut their teeth in amphibious operations.

Armed with specialist assault rifles and pistols that work underwater, they are especially adept at recon and sabotage operations.

“They have been sent to do a lot of these overseas power projection efforts, so that includes anti-piracy and counter-terrorism,” Turek added.

Taiwan’s geography as a highly mountainous island with densely populated cities makes planning an invasion fraught with difficulty for China.

One of the first tasks for China would be to assess Taiwan’s coastline for potential landing spots.

And the Sea Dragons’ expertise in naval reconnaissance would put them right at the forefront.

“They would probably be the ones identifying where the targets are and where they should strike,” Turek said.

“We would also see them probably engaging in some of their own targeted strikes.”

The Sea Dragons would also likely play a key role in psychological warfare to try and force Taiwan into submission, Turek said.

This could see them sabotage ports, major airports and other vital infrastructure in a brutal campaign to terrorise the island’s population.

The unit has even been seen wielding terrifying hidden drones that are disguised to look like birds, The War Zone previously reported.

Turek said attacks would be intended to convince Taiwan “that the Taiwanese military is not up to snuff and the Taiwanese government is not being effective.”

While not a member state of the United Nations, Taiwan is a functionally independent country with its own government, currency and military.

But China sees the island as a breakaway province that should be under Beijing’s control, and President Xi Jinping has long refused to rule out the use of force to achieve this.

Many US officials believe that Xi wants China’s military to be ready to take Taiwan by 2027.

However, Dr Turek added that Beijing would struggle to mount a surprise attack given the scale of machinery and equipment that would need to be deployed.

“China has not really experienced any sort of urban warfare before,” she said. “A lot of this is going to be pretty unseen territory.”

Dr Turek added: “It will likely be a pretty devastating conflict. It is likely to be a protracted war.”

However, China could instead opt to blockade Taiwan in an attempt to throttle it into submission – instead of sending troops in to fight and die.

Either a blockade or an invasion would likely have devastating impacts on the global economy, as the Taiwan Strait is one of the busiest shipping lanes for international trade.

Taiwan is also a key producer of semicondutors – which are crucial component in the manufacturing of electronics around the world.

But Dr Turek cautioned that an invasion “is always on the table”.

“We’ve certainly seen them preparing for it. We have seen them conduct exercises that resemble blockades.”

However, she added: “Xi Jinping and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) right now are pretty risk averse.

“They are not going to invade unless they think they will be successful.”