I dunno, knp, why not Eastern Russia or SE Asia?
I like the salvage question, but I would say roll a d6 for each mech or armor destroyed by Chinese forces, on a roll of 1, that unit is now Chinese. It’s same odds as SBR getting killed by AA Guns so there is some limited precedent for that target number. It’s horrible justification, but best I could do on the spur of the moment. lol