China has sent officials to the Russian central bank to study the effects of Western sanctions for a better understanding of how it would be affected if it were to invade Taiwan.

Beijing had already set up a task force months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which was tasked with producing reports about the impacts of Western sanctions on the Russian economy.

China is “very interested” in “practically everything” about the sanctions, including potentially positive effects on domestic production, a person with knowledge of the specialist task force told the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, China vowed “resolute countermeasures” on Sunday after the US approved an arms shipment to Taiwan.

In addition to reports produced through the inter-agency, Chinese officials have been sent on recurring trips to Moscow’s central bank, ministry of finance and other government agencies that deal with Western sanctions.