David Rothkopf: China Is About to Make a Big Mistake by Supporting Russia

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16. It would honestly be a big surprise to find China supporting Russia

They have been bitter enemies for literally over a millennium, and China is probably eyeing up Siberia with a long-term eye to annexing as much of it as possible as being their rightful legacy. Particularly with climage change making the weather warmer there and more violent in more southerly climes.

Also, China does not need Russia's nukes. They have nukes of their own, an delivery systems as good as Russia's. They didn't build as many of them as Russia or particularly the US did, but they did build enough to thoroughly deter anyone else from using nukes on them, which is the whole operative theory behind MAD. They didn't feel the need to bankrupt themselves building overkill levels when it's quite clear no sane enemy would risk being hit by even a few.

If they do form an alliance I would expect it to be as honest and trustworthy as Stalin's pact with Hitler, which is to say the Russians would need to really watch their backs. Because they are now overextended and the Chinese aren't. The Chinese might want to present what looks like a strong front against NATO and the US, but they will abandon it in a microsecond if they can find better advantage elsewhere.