Jude Blanchette presents a critical analysis of Chinese experts' views on the war in Ukraine, highlighting their initial concerns about the conflict's impact on China's interests and their subsequent shift to a more optimistic outlook. However, Blanchette argues that this optimism is based on a selective and incomplete understanding of the situation, overlooking the significant costs that China has incurred as a result of its support for Russia. The author presents countervailing evidence of Russia's isolation, strained China-Europe relations, and accelerated economic fragmentation that undermines China's goals. With the exception of a sweeping generalization about the limits of US support for Ukraine, the analysis seems tightly reasoned.

1. sweeping generalization • The text makes a sweeping generalization about the West's unity based on the political divisions within the United States.

As the war drags on, Chinese analysts also believe that the West's unity is fracturing. As Democrats and Republicans fight 'fiercely against each other and as the [U.S. presidential] election approaches, [the] situation is getting more and more unfavorable for Ukraine,' the prominent Eurasian Studies expert Ding Xiaoxing wrote in February.

This makes light of the fact that there is still significant support for Ukraine within the West, and that the United States has a long history of bipartisan support for foreign policy initiatives.