> Without gas they have no reason to tolerate Putin.
Nope.
If you think about this on a geopolitical scale, China has every interest in wanting their Northern border with Russia secure, and to advance the Chinese Belt & Road initiative, and collaborate on non-USD currency trading, and other things that make them both sanctions resistant. China also wants Russian Technology where they still hold leadership positions.
Most importantly, China wants Taiwan back.
The global balance of power may shift in China's favor if the best fabs in the world are suddenly Chinese, and they can sanction the US, limiting their access to chips.
These supply chain issues would be a great tool during wartime.
Even if China manages to conquer Taiwan (they don't yet have enough amphibious lift capacity to make it stick), the important fabs are likely to be wrecked. And even if China manages to capture some equipment intact, they won't be able to operate it without support from ASML and other foreign vendors.
US politicians have finally woken up to the risk of being dependent on China for strategically important semiconductors, hence the support for measures like the CHIPS Act. The window for China to be able to credibly threaten us with sanctions is rapidly closing.
All the Belt and Road projects have already left Russia, moving south.
For China to secure its northern border they need Russia as a buffer zone; they don’t need it strong.
As for technology - Russia has two, nuclear and military. China already got everything nuclear they wanted, and Russian military tech is, as we could all see, rather worthless.
