You’re looking at it through the “money-only” (for lack of a better word) perspective when it comes to China’s geopolitical decisions, which in my view is entirely wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I see your view as understandable, because I assume you’re writing this from a Western country and it is known that the West has long put money above everything else, but that way of looking at things completely misses China. The same discussion can be applied almost identically to how Russia views its geopolitical interests.