It would be so amazingly fantastic if the West had any moral credibility left, because it is true that in the case of Ukraine, the West is actually preaching the right thing: a rules based international order, where nations have the right to self determination and other countries don't get to arbitrarily decide whether you have the right to exist. Like, exactly what Palestinians need.

China gave a solid 1.5 year buffer because they too saw Russia fumbling and probably expected NATO to finish the job when the war started.

Instead they just witnessed 2 years of profiteering on 90s surplus military technology and hindering Ukraine's ability to fight.

Now that Russia has proved its half stable and not going anywhere, China will happily sell whatever to them as long as the profit is stable.

Although its also funny how both sides are using a ton of DJI drones which China "allegedly" stopped selling.

China's accurately balancing it's profits. It can sell much more products to it's primary markets if it gets resources from Russia and get some bonus on also selling sanctioned or illegal stuff with a huge margin. Can NATO or other structure condition it to back off a little? Probably yes since a lot of banks started to slow down or deny processing payments from russian corporations. Can it stop it completely? Probably not, but with every new barrier, the russian economy suffers from underdelivery and overpaying for a banal stuff.

In case the US has forgotten, China is selling key technology like drones to Ukraine, too. If that's not staying neutral and not picking a side, I don't know what is. The US wants China to pick the US side, not stay neutral. In fact, China currently has a trade deficit with Ukraine.

In February 2024, China exported $221M and imported $477M from Ukraine, resulting in a negative trade balance of $256M.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2022/03/31/dji-drones-become-vital-tool-in-ukraine-resistance/?sh=ea4c59879e6c

https://www.wsj.com/world/how-american-drones-failed-to-turn-the-tide-in-ukraine-b0ebbac3

Smith was speaking shortly before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits China on Wednesday. He's expected to warn Chinese officials not to provide aid to Russia.

Or else they're going to get a very stern talking to.

Does that make this a proxy war?

Weird to think of Russia as a puppet in a proxy war. They used to be puppet masters but oh how the mighty have fallen.

As is iran, north korea, hungary, turkey....

This is the best summary I could come up with:

BRUSSELS — China is helping Russia meet its war goals in Ukraine by continuing to sell supplies such as drone technology and gunpowder ingredients to Moscow, the U.S.

"The PRC [People's Republic of China] cannot claim to be entirely neutral in this case, [and] they are in fact picking a side," Julianne Smith told POLITICO on Tuesday.

Smith said the United States was "increasingly seeing materiel support" from China to Russia, adding that this equipment — which can have both civilian and military uses — had played a critical role in helping Moscow achieve some of its aims against Ukraine.

She outlined the kind of support that Beijing had been giving Moscow, including "machine tools, microelectronics, UAV technologies and nitrocellulose that is used as a propellant."

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, have played a significant role in the war for both sides, while China's massive output of nitrocellulose — a key ingredient for making gunpowder — is a concern for Europe's own defense industry.

Beijing insists that it's not a "party" to the war — and defends what it calls "normal trading relationships" with Moscow while accusing the U.S. of actively sending arms to Ukraine.

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