It doesn't really make sense for the to be 3 shipyards if it is just a small batch of LSTs.
2 shipyards would take 2 years at most to launch 8 ships. A third shipyard would only shave 6 months off that time, but come at increased cost.
And there should be more than enough work available to share around, given the simple and low cost nature of LSTs.
But 3 shipyards building LSTs makes sense if they plan on significantly more, for a 2027 Taiwan scenario for example.
Additional 072 class ships are quite logical for China's needs. Though I suspect if it's indeed a small batch, then we're probably talking about hulls that will replace existing old 072 ships. According to chinese language wiki, which is usually more accurate than the english language one, there are three 072II landing ships in active service. Originally launched around 1993/1994.
Though it's unlikely there will be a single ship built per shipyard, if there are indeed 3 separate shipyards involved. That just doesn't sound economical. There are allegedly 11 more 072III landing ships, commissioned from 1992 to 2002. So several of those, at least the first three, but possibly first 6, (sixth one commissioned in 1996) might also be replaced. That would suggest 9 new 072 class ships. Not really a small batch in my book but who knows.
He didn't mention about the number of new 072A/-mod LSTs that are going to be built.
What he did mention is that while the number of new batch 072A/-mods to be built is not large, the order paves the foundation for all the involved shipyards to maintain reserve production capacity of those LSTs, which would be useful in case a need for them spikes in the future.
The last 072A LST was commissioned in early-2016. So far, there are 4 shipyards involved with the 072A LST construction, namely Hudong-Zhonghua, Dalian, Wuchang and Baima (at Fujian).
How can a 901 class ship be launched in secret? We're talking about 40 000 ton ships...
The Type 901 and Type 903 were AFAIK all built at Guangzhou's Longxue facility. Unfortunately detailed imagery on GE etc is from 2022. Free stuff from Sentinel etc isnt hi-res enough to make firm conclusions. But either way yeah its not really possible to hide a launch like that. I also note false Type 901 construction/launch rumours have been around before and Chinese Wiki in this regard is not accurate/reliable.
He didn't say launched in-secret, only low-profile.
But think about it - Compared to those flashy surface warships and submarines of the PLAN, the 901 AOEs aren't exactly as attention-grabbing for the Chinese military fans and watchers alike.
Besides, how many and how often do we see photographs of the Guangzhou Shipyard so far? Very little, in fact. Even Huangpu-Wenchong located slightly further upstream from Guangzhou gets way more (though occasional) visits by Chinese military fans than Guangzhou, mainly due to the 054A-mod (for the CCG), 054AG and 054B FFGs that were built there.
Moreover, when was the last time Tom Shugart got the (most) recent satellite imageries of the Guangzhou Shipyard from Planet Labs and Google Earth? Coupled with the Sentinel 2 satellite imagery updates around the Guangzhou area (which aren't just blurry, but also less frequent than those around Shanghai and Dalian areas), they certainly don't help with observations of that location either.
And to be fair, I don't think that he is referring to the Chinese Wikipedia page either, which is erroneously suggesting that there are 3x 901 AOEs currently under construction at Guangzhou.
However, I should note again that the usual caveats still do apply with that guy.
