Last week, the Zhejiang Chouzhou Commercial Bank suspended all transactions for clients from Russia and Belarus, raising concerns about the potential impact on Russian exporters. The move may have been influenced by recent expansions of U.S. financial controls and the risk of secondary sanctions.
While the Chinese Foreign Ministry has not commented on the issue, Russian officials express confidence in resolving the matter with Beijing.
Russia and China were the last two big eastern communist blocks. They have nothing do do with communism since at least two decades as it failed hard and fully transformed themself to a authoritarian model with a strong capitalist outer core to benefit the elites (like in the west), yet they still are in a treaty of “friendship and cooperation” (2001 and 2021 treaty).
China gains a lot off this friendship. An unstable russia could break up and in worst case could bring russia into NATO sphere of influence in a time span of 30-40 years and would bring NATOs outer border to chinas north. It is in their best interest to not let this happen. Ever. Or if it happens, take control of the eastern parts of russia to create a buffer zone to avoid NATO controlling nearly all of the northern hemisphere of the globe.
Russia, gains nothing from it. Russia would profit the most if they would align (back) to the west, like in the last 300 years, and sell their goods to a high value market and gain mind and heart to develop further their standard of living and production. Right now Russia benefits of chinas friendship only in ways, that it would not need if russia could dial down it’s anti-west-america-is-the-enemy mindset that they groomed for roughly 50 years and was on the tipping point for 10 years and with putin tipped fully back to the old anti-west stance. The reason are a complex mixture of old communist ideas and russians mindset of seeing russia as world power because they “won the war” (by the help of the US via the lend-lease act of 1941).
China still holding a grudge that the US supported the Republic of China that fled to Taiwan. There is no question that China will continue to feed russia as long as possible for whatever the cost will be. The keystone lays on russia and their citizens and if they tolerate their suppression or might try out a more modern form of government one day. They are the most influenced, controlled, deceived and manipulated citizens on the planet right now (from all western countries), as their actions decide on the biggest change for the coming history. Chinas influence to not change the status quo will be immense. We already can see how china helps russia to convert its state in a similar surveillance society, to detect cracks early and suppress any movements of the broad public in their infant stage.
TLDR: China will never cut off financial/military/technological aid to their biggest land-buffer against the west.
Russia already tried to align with the west, even trying to join NATO, and were denied. At this point, I doubt they entertain even the dream of the west ever accepting them.
That is not true. Russia never tried to join NATO. Putin just had a talk in the beginning of his reign with NATO heads about joining, but it was never publicly debated in russia and never applied officially.
After the orange revolution in 2004 in ukraine and the protests for more democracy in 2007 in Russia, Putin was very angry and offended by his own citizens. By many journalists accounts, after those protests Putin developed a strong distrust and grudge against his own citizens and was most likely the tipping point of his authoritarian alignment to china. 2012 Xi came into power and 2014 russia annexed crimea. The rest is history.
Maybe there were moments between 2001 and 2003 where a different path could have been possible. For Example when Putin called Bush after 9/11 to offer an axis against terrorism. But the Details about those two years are not public. Maybe time can tell one day where we went wrong.
There was talk, back in 1990s (iirc?) of europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok. I think it’s a pity we missed that opportunity. I’ve crossed the Russian-Chinese border on a few occasions, years ago, back then it felt culturally that was a european border. Now, the way it’s going, seems more likely Siberia will end up attached to China.
(by the way, wrt OP, China has many many banks…)
NATO is a defensive alliance that has brought many decades of peace to large parts of the world. Countries can leave any time they want and voluntarily apply for membership. They don’t “control” member states.