Minister of Defence Mr Liang Guanglie visited the Three Gorges Dam and its shiplocks on 14 November. This is one of the most high profile visits from the ministry to the dam in recent years.

Many of the Yangtze ports have special terminals for exclusive use by the military. Analysts believe that Mr Liang would have held discussions with senior shiplocks managers as to how to ease bottlenecks for military operations. The military are often mobilised in civilian operations such as rescue efforts after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.