China-North East Asia-Ukraine war-Matan Goldman
As sanctions against Russia remain strong, they are forced to import more resources from their eastern neighbors. According to CNN Business, China-Russia trade has increased 60% from august last year. Before the war, China and Russia were already allies, with China being Russia’s largest trade ally, but within the last year, they have expanded their trade by many multitudes. Most of what they are trading is grain and charcoal from Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Qinghai. China is using this opportunity to relax its dependency on western trade, as they have slowly been backing out of trade. As China and Russia trade more, within Russia, the amount a Yuan is worth has skyrocketed as well. China’s central government has expressed hope for the yuan to become a new global currency. China, being self-reliant, has many local brands that are now rushing to fill the gap of western chains in Russia. For example, Mcdonald’s closed all through Russia, and Chinese fast food brands are swooping in to fill the gaps. At the same time china, it is trying to avoid going all in on allying with Russia. Now, as Putin’s promise of a quick victory has been proven false, china is refusing to veto the same things Russia does, instead choosing to abstain. This sense of not being pure allies but not being enemies lets china have one foot in the door and have plausible deniability if Russia succeeds or if Russia fails. Overall, China has been on the edge of its seats to see if its allies will succeed or fail; at the same time, they are prospering with their new trade. 
