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by luckystarr 1567 days ago
> Lets not forgot pushing themselves into the arms of China who ideologically hates them.

No, they "made up" recently. Russia supports Chinas claim to Taiwan and China supports Russias claims.

This makes the whole situation even more ugly.

2 comments

This is an oversimplification. China can't support Russia directly for couple of reasons (from Taiwan perspective). Even neutral is a kinda bad.

  * Russia is foreign country, invading other country. China respects sovereignty. Their claims for Taiwan are based on that - Taiwan is not independent according to their narrative. Huge military invasion into Taiwan is against this ideology. It proves that Taiwan was not part of China.

  * If they are OK with invasion of Ukraine, then other countries have arguments for invading China, and help Tibet, Inner Mongolia or Xinjiang to be independent nations. China really does not want that.
Also they remind us all the time, that what happens in the country, happens in the country (China). It is country's business and nobody else should take part for that.
I'm not sure China is as motivated about the logical consistency of these positions as much as their strategic impact on China. In their defense, most countries only bother holding consistent positions when it is advantageous for them to do so.

As Mao Zedong put it, "political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".

China is authoritarian nation, but they deeply care about public image. And Xi is not crazy.

They need to be logical to maintain the image.

They certainly engage in public relations efforts to burnish their public image and I agree that Xi is not crazy and would not make that task any more difficult than necessary.

But it does not seem like logical consistency is the driving force of their foreign policy.

Oh ya, like I totally dont get the relationships going on in asia. Pakistan, who typically hates Russia, is supporting them? China has a no limit alliance that apparently has limits. The 3 of them are seemingly dunking on India. India used to be good friends with Russia. Then you have border issues between India and China.
> Pakistan, who typically hates Russia, is supporting them

A rival for influence in Central Asia backing you committing to a fight in Europe that aligns the rest of the world strongly against you as long as it persists might not be doing it because they support you in any meaningful sense of the word.