It’d probably be bad in terms of global stability and whatnot, but it’d still get a chuckle out of me if China just went “Well, It’s free real estate” and invaded russia.
China wants Taiwan. While some land in Russia might be nice it isn’t a big deal. They like Russia getting away with attacking Ukraine because it sets a global precedent that large powers can take over weaker powers.
I mean, Russia hasn’t succeeded though, been sanctioned by many nations, and lots of nations are supplying gear to the defenders. That’s not really “getting away with it” and I’m not sure it sends the message to China that you think it does.
They dom’t have to be successful to be used to normalize taking over weaker powers. The world not actively opposing the attempt is still normalizing.
