Hong Kong
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Russia agreed to help China equip and train air battalions.
In 2023, Russia agreed to sell a series of military equipment to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in China, including attack vehicles, tank guns and carriers of air armor, according to documents leaked by the Black Moonhack Tivist Group and verified by the British think tank The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
The armored vehicles are equipped with Chinese communications and command and control suites, and Russia will train and use them in accordance with approximately 800 pages of contract and additional materials reviewed by the RUSI.
Under the terms of the agreement, Russia may also transfer technology to China.
The agreement, if fully implemented, will strengthen China’s aviation capabilities, one of the regions where Moscow’s troops still have an advantage over the PLA. And improving in the area could help China one day achieve its objective of acquiring Taiwan, an autonomous island of 23 million, according to experts at RUSI.
“Russia equips and trains Chinese special forces groups to infiltrate without realizing the territory of other countries, providing offensive options against Taiwan, the Philippines and other island nations,” writes Rusi Fellows Oleksandr v Danylyuk and Jack Watling in an analysis of the deal.
The Philippines is one of many countries where China has overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea. Ships from both countries regularly collide in the region as Beijing becomes more assertive in its claims.
Although CNN does not independently review leaked documents, it is not clear whether the transaction is fully implemented. CNN reached out to China’s Ministry of Defense for comment.
Russia and China have been swapping arms since the 1990s, but the military partnership has become more robust as the relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping has warmed and warnings are being raised in Washington.
Xi, Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were standing side by side at a Chinese military parade last month at an unprecedented show of solidarity with the US and its allies.
Moscow and Beijing are increasingly seeing their close relationship to achieve their respective goals. Earlier this month, Putin said bilateral relations were “unprecedented high levels” and that the two countries reportedly signed a long-term agreement to build a large new pipeline to send natural gas to China through Mongolia. Moscow has increasingly relied on China to replace Europe as the leading gas buyer since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Moscow and Beijing have also intensified joint military training in recent years, including joint naval patrols around Japan and sea and sea patrols off the coast of Alaska. State media reports show that in August it was the first joint submarine patrol in the Pacific.
China and Russia have conducted 14 joint military training in 2024, since the two countries began training together in 2003, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
According to Rusi Fellows, the greatest benefit of the 2023 contract for Beijing will be in training the air battalion, as Russian troops have combat experience in the area but Chinese combat experience.
If China attacks Taiwan, the Air Force will be the most effective way to bring key troops and equipment to the island in the early stages of the operation – if they try to invade and retain the island, they will need a huge, extremely difficult amphibious attack by the sea.
According to the agreement, the training will take place in Russia, in part in China. The Russian instructors then trained Chinese air battalions at Chinese training grounds, where soldiers prepared to land, fire and pilot them.
