Russia Helping China Invade Taiwan Could Spark WWIII

In the latest and best example of why Russia must be stopped in Ukraine, reports show that the Kremlin is using its current wartime experience to actively help China prepare an airborne invasion of Taiwan, essentially raising the risk of WWIII with the United States.

In the past decade the military partnership between Russia and China has become more robust and formal.

The two superpowers have been ramping up their joint military drills in recent years, including joint naval patrols around Japan and air and sea patrols off Alaska. In August, they conducted their first-ever joint submarine patrol in the Pacific.

According to the Washington, D.C-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which I have been affiliated with in years past, China and Russia conducted 14 joint military drills in 2024, the most since the two countries started doing drills together in 2003.

But this new revelation points to an even more dangerous military collaboration.

Based on 800 pages of hacked Russian documents, Western intelligence says that Russia has agreed to equip and train the China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to air-drop armored vehicles and special reconnaissance capabilities for an airborne battalion, including the ability to carry out stealthy infiltration by special forces.

This is an important capability that China lacks.

The training would be carried out partly in Russia and partly in China.

The equipment Russia is providing China includes 37 light amphibious assault vehicles, 11 amphibious anti-tank self-propelled guns, and 11 airborne armored personnel carriers, as well as command and observation vehicles, listed at a cost of more than $210 million.

The documents show that Beijing wants all the Russian vehicles to be equipped with Chinese communication systems and to be prepared to use Chinese ammunition.

This major revelation was first publicly reported by Britain’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), of which I’ve been a member. It noted that:

According to contracts and correspondence obtained by the Black Moon hacktivist group, Russia agreed in 2023 to supply the PLA with a complete set of weapons and equipment to equip an airborne battalion, as well as other special equipment necessary for airborne infiltration of special forces, along with a full cycle of training for operators and technical personnel to use this equipment. In addition, Russia is transferring technologies that will allow China to scale-up the production of similar weapons and military equipment through localization and modernization.

This is significant because as RUSI notes:

Chinese President Xi Jinping has directed the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to be ready to militarily seize Taiwan by 2027. A large-scale amphibious operation is highly risky, with the sites suitable for landing craft to deliver troops and equipment ashore constrained by the gradient and load bearing capacity of the beaches. Seizing airfields could allow troops to flow in by air, but as Russia discovered during its invasion of Ukraine, runways can be quickly denied. The PLA is therefore eager to identify ways of diversifying both the methods and locations at which it can move units onto Taiwan.

Although the areas where Russia surpasses China in military capability are diminishing, Russia has practical experience and capabilities for air manoeuvre that China lacks.

While the documents don’t specifically mention Taiwan, the RUI analysts note that, “The capacity to airdrop armour vehicles on golf courses, or other areas of open and firm ground near Taiwan’s ports and airfields, would allow air assault troops to significantly increase their combat power and threaten seizure of these facilities to clear a path for the landing of follow-on forces.”

RUSI fellow Oleksandr V Danylyuk added:  that “the Chinese school of airborne landing is very young,” but Moscow’s assistance could help speed up China’s airborne program by about 10 to 15 years.

And these advanced airborne capabilities Russia is helping China develop wouldn’t just threaten Taiwan.

As Danylyuk and his colleague Jack Watling wrote, “Russia is equipping and training Chinese special forces groups to penetrate the territory of other countries without being noticed, offering offensive options against Taiwan, the Philippines and other island states in the region.”

The Philippines is one of many nations with which China has overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea. China has repeatedly threatened and attacked Philippines vessels with ramming and water cannons.

U.S. military forces, including Marines and Army troops, have been greatly increasing their presence in the Philippines to help deter and respond to any attack by China.

While China likely hasn’t yet decided if or when it will invade Taiwan, Danylyuk suggested that Moscow may want to draw Beijing into a major conflict with Washington over Taiwan, distracting the U.S. from Russia’s war with Ukraine.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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