I'm not fully convinced that they will, but the American intelligence has been on point this conflict and they are reporting that the Chinese are seriously considering it, so I think we have to take it as a very real possibility. We additionally have seen the Chinese send their top diplomat to Moscow during the 1 year anniversary of the war, come out with a peace plan that favours Russia (as it would draw a cease fire around current battle lines) and Xi is slated to visit Moscow for a meeting with Putin soon. So clearly, they seem to become more involved - to what degree remains to be seen.

As for reasons, China is currently experiencing a period of escalating tensions with the US. The spy balloon is a prime example, but probably the US cutting off China's access to high grade computer chips is a much larger factor. It may be that China seeks to retaliate by undermining US interests in other places. Another factor will be that Russia will have been asking for more support for a long time, and it China might find it hard to continue to refuse while simultaneously touting their "boundless friendship". Lastly, a long and distracting war in Europe can be in China's favour (as long as it does not escalate) as it will drain resources from their strategic adversaries. Just as it is in the interest of the US/EU to arm Ukraine and thereby harm Russia, China could see it in their interest to arm Russia and harm the EU/US.

Again, currently the leaked and unverified claims of the lethal aid they are reported to be willing to provide are quite paltry for a country the size of China. So to me it seems more like a shot across the bow to the US and a placating gesture to the Russians. But under the right (or wrong, rather) circumstances this could escalate further. The last thing you want is further entrenchment on this issue between China and the EU/US, and while that currently is in neither blocs interest - situation with high tensions can be unpredictable.

For this reason again Zelensky's move to try and engage the Chinese is a good one.

100%

I think most of us support this, I don't know what OP is smoking

That's why we are lucky to have the first amendment.

I was just like "they should send some drones named Drop Bears" but then I was like "fuck it just send some drop bears." Imagine the reactions of the Russians who hadn't even seen indoor plumbing before they stole a Ukrainian home.

Soon to be known as Igor Mortis

> I hope Australia names their weapons after their animals.

The Loyal Wingman Australia has developed is called the Ghost Bat.

> The species is the only Australian bat that preys on large vertebrates – birds, reptiles and other mammals – which they detect using acute sight and hearing, combined with echolocation, while waiting in ambush at a perch.

Show us a version of “diplomacy” that is not telling Ukraine to surrender their land.

“Call for diplomacy” = bossy outsiders telling Ukraine to surrender.

Lula or Xi have no moral authority to tell Ukraine they must surrender. This is Ukraine’s decision to make. They don’t need outsiders telling them to negotiate (surrender). If Lula or Xi want to “call for diplomacy” they should tell Putin to withdraw to 1991 borders instead of telling Ukraine to surrender.

She has a turnip for dinner and a whole pig for dessert

You seem super convinced that China will send arms to Russia, to what end does that benefit China?

I take it you're making a snide remark about how the prevailing opinion on Reddit has been that the Chinese peace plan was not to be taken serious, and that this news seems to disprove that.

Let's assume for the moment that you're simply naive rather than disingenuous, and actually believe what you are implying. Clearly with the current rumblings of the Chinese sending some lethal aid to the Russians, and at a time that the tensions between the Americans and the Chinese have reached a high point, Ukraine can ill afford to take any type of action that would further push the Chinese towards the Russian camp.

So what we see here is Zelensky jumping on the opportunity to try and make the Ukrainian case directly to Xi. It's both a clever PR move that shows that Ukraine is looking for peace and a good diplomatic practice to not dismiss the Chinese out of hand, even though their peace plan is a big pile of "meh" and ultimately unacceptable to the Ukrainians under the current conditions of the conflict. The real brilliance is to try and engage the Chinese directly now that they are becoming more entangled in the conflict.

If the Chinese refuse, then they lose standing as a player. If they engage, it offers Zelenskyy opportunity to influence them. And while certainly China is not a fan of NATO and the US, they are not happy with this conflict and Russia's role in it either. And while yes offering lethal aid to Russia is absolutely a step in the wrong direction, it's not as if delivering couple of drones is significantly taking a hand at the conflict. Seems more like a gesture aimed at placating the Russians for the moment, so likely there is still room to influence them and Zelenskyy is trying to accomplish that.

So no, the plan is still bad and will not receive serious considerations under the current battlefield conditions.

Lol, the response of NATO countries vs the response from the Ukrainian president is something.

Would be a fantastic show of support from the Chinese. I mean, that would look amazing for Xi to visit Kyiv and speak with Zelensky. But he won't. Where did they send their foreign minister? Moscow. They don't give a fuck about Ukraine. They support Russia.

Dude, a SCIF is just a room where you're allowed to store, view and discuss classified information. You're wildly overblowing these things, they aren't secret lairs (edit: typo). They're windowless rooms with a door that you can't kick in.

>The 6.5 trillion was more than the Pentagon’s entire budget that year by A LOT. If it is corruption then we have a serious leak in our budget.

And the first sentence here should be your clue that 6.5 trillion dollars didn't get spent on classified projects in a single year.

Why would that be? If zelensky can get china to use its leverage to end the war then that would be awesome.

I swear, he has done more work in one week out of office than he did in two months at number 10.

There was a time when Boris showing up at a meeting made headlines.

Well I’ll be damned, they DID get tank to Berlin.

At first I was like “your not serious are you?” And as I kept on reading asking your comment I started to chuckle.

Tell Xi to come on over. We will look for large white balloons coming our way.

Yea dude I fucking bet :(

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Why would the US need a base to spy on Australians when Australia already shares intelligence with the US

Maybe Xi will fly to Kyiv and meet Zelensky in person -- said no one ever.

Im pretty sure Poland is willing to jump in right now, they hungry to stomp out this filth.

Ah yes, let's not call for diplomacy, let's wait until Putin dies, maybe when the conflict reaches 1.000.000 deaths he will stop being an autocratic leader and "wakes up".

It wouldn't, it's a milquetoast attempt to generate more "we tried but those evil Democrats stood in our way" talking points.