[big-and-small]

  > Energy is not the main reason. China would still stand with Russia without energy.

Of course it will because Russia also has cheap raw materials not just exclusively oil and gas. At the same time China does not invest into Russian economy because they don't want competition.

Weak Russia is more beneficial for China to buy commodities for cheap and then sell Chinese products back.

  > China could never support a pro-Western Ukraine in the first place.

China is one of largest Ukraine trade partners before and during the war. Ukraine even lobbied for ability to buy Chinese drone parts using EU funds when EU unable to fulfill.

So nope - China dont care. They are trading with both Russia and Ukraine.

[linzhangrun]

Having trade relations does not mean China supports a country. US has always been China’s largest trading partner, but China <-> US relations can hardly be called "friendly".

The CCP government has absolute control over domestic public opinion. The pro-Russia direction on Chinese social media is very clear, although as the war became unfavorable for Putin, voices supporting Ukraine have been allowed a little more in recent years.

What the US supports is what China opposes. From Iran to Venezuela, from Gaza to Ukraine, except for a very small amount of "human consensus", it is always and will be like this.

[big-and-small]

My point stands: if China was "against" Ukraine they wouldn't sell to Ukraine because a lot of drone manufacturing depends on Chinese components.

Of course China does not support Ukraine politically, but that's a different story.