Key Points and Summary – Leaked Russian documents obtained by the Kyiv Independent reveal a covert Chinese arms pipeline from Moscow to Beijing since early 2022, focused on building a PLA airborne force tailored for a Taiwan assault.
-Using front contracts and hidden payments to sanctioned Russian defense firms, China is acquiring air-droppable armored vehicles, aircraft, ammunition, and paratrooper training.
-Delivery schedules and contract deadlines align with Xi Jinping’s stated 2027 readiness goal and the PLA’s centennial, reinforcing fears of a Taiwan invasion window.
-The deals deepen China–Russia strategic cooperation while giving the PLA invaluable combat-proven hardware and doctrine at bargain prices.
The Kyiv Independent published a report detailing how, even after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, China decided to purchase Russian aircraft, combat vehicles, ammunition, and equipment. The bilateral engagements were organized to build up the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) paratrooper and airborne units.
In support of this activity, Chinese officers and representatives of Beijing’s major defense manufacturers have shuttled back and forth to Russia for more than two years. While in Russia, they have inspected a wide variety of weapons and negotiated contracts to purchase hundreds of millions in hardware from Moscow, the Independent finds.
In 2023 and 2024, Beijing reportedly entered into several confidential contracts with Moscow to acquire Russian armaments. The PLA has done its best to obscure these contracts and any payments made, according to the report, because the sums are supposed to be paid to Russian arms manufacturers currently subject to international sanctions.
The overall goal of these acquisitions appears to be equipping Chinese paratrooper forces with both the air mobile and heavy transport assets needed to conduct a large airborne assault on Taiwan.
Among the items being acquired by the PLA are air-mobile, airdrop-capable armored vehicles. “The delivery schedule built into the armored vehicle draft contract offers a rare look at how Moscow and Beijing are thinking about time, as the production and testing timelines align with dates already featured in debates over a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan,” explains the article.
The known deadline for implementing some of the other contracts is 2027. Again, this correlates with the year Chinese President Xi Jinping has identified as the time China’s military should be ready to carry out a possible Taiwan invasion.
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