"Russia is directly complicit in the activity, despite the danger a strong Red China poses to them (shades of early World War II)."
I think you overestimate the threat China poses to Russia. Currently, China confronts the U. S. (which has pledged to defend Taiwan, which China has practically pledged to invade) and Japan---a former military kitten that is quite quickly transforming into a military tiger under the Chinese stimulus.
These enemies for a country that is an "economic giant" primarily on a fantasy level---with 300 million people living in poverty. And let me point out, this has nothing to do with US-style poverty. In China, living in poverty means if you don't get the money to buy rice for the next three weeks---people in your family start to starve to death. When you live in poverty on that level, the possibility of armed insurrection is never that far away because you have very little to lose.
The notion that China might decide to take on Russia at this point seems like fantasy to me.
Just the same, make no mistake. Even the Soviets were very concerned about China, and that was before they began their economic and military modernization.
Despite the number of hungry, China is working with a huge imbalance that is netting them tremendous leverage and capital. They are using it to modernize and seek economic self sufficiency. With their new economic model (which is almost fascist pn natrue IMHO) they have the potential of becoming an economic and manufacturing power house.
That is a dangerous potenital. And one we'd best watch closely.
My point is, that the threat to Russia exists and is real. The Soviets recognized it and respected it when the Red Chinese were far less capable. Therefore, whatever the likelihood, the potential threat has increased as Red China has modernized and increased its own capabilities even as Russia has lost so much of its own.
That's all.