Russian officials in Taipei showed a Soviet-era documentary attacking Japanese militarism to a small group of Taiwanese guests — a sign Russia and China are now coordinating influence operations aimed at Taiwan, which is bad news for Taipei and its ties with Tokyo.

• Russia's representative office in Taipei hosted a closed-door screening of an 81-year-old Soviet film about crushing Japanese militarism for about 20 Taiwanese guests, including former journalists, business people and academics.
• Taiwanese security officials read it as the first clear case of Moscow amplifying Beijing's message that Japan is returning to its wartime aggression.
• The pitch lands as Beijing and Tokyo are already at odds over Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi's suggestion that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a Japanese military response.
• Xi and Putin met at the SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan in late August, and Taiwan's security agencies say the two sides reached a new understanding on working together along the first island chain.
• Russia poses a harder problem than China, because Russian officials courting Taiwanese figures face looser legal scrutiny than Chinese ones.

Outlook: Taiwan's security agencies expect more joint Russia-China messaging ahead of the year-end local elections, with Japan as a likely target.