Overview
- RUSI reports that contracts from 2023 outline a Russian pledge to equip a Chinese airborne battalion with weapons and specialized gear for rapid infiltration.
- The documents list 37 BMD-4M vehicles, 11 Sprut-SDM1 light amphibious tank destroyers, and 11 BTR-MDM Rakushka troop carriers, along with command and observation vehicles.
- Training for Chinese crews would occur at Russian facilities including Kurganmashzavod and Penza’s JSC Rubin, with a technical maintenance and repair center to be created in China.
- RUSI says Xi Jinping instructed the PLA to be ready to seize Taiwan by 2027 and assesses that any attempt would be high-risk and likely expand fighting across the South China Sea.
- Beijing and Moscow have not confirmed the reported arrangements, as RUSI links the alleged cooperation to Moscow’s bid for greater leverage and notes 14 joint drills in 2024.