THIS secretive Chinese special forces unit could play a key role in dictator Xi Jinping's plot to seize Taiwan.

Ever since Vladimir Putin 's brutal invasion of Ukraine , the world has held its breath to see if Beijing will follow suit and annex its neighbour.

Unlike the Russian army , China 's military suffers from a chronic lack of recent battlefield experience.

Beijing 's troops haven't seen active combat in a full scale war since the 1970s, when China fought briefly against Vietnam .

But China's elite 7th Marine Brigade - also known as the Sea Dragons - is kept at "high readiness" for conflict, and has experience in operations around the world.

This secretive unit has been deployed in China's counter-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden - and played a key role in ev

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