China doesn’t measure favorably when directly compared one-to-one with the US, so they know these strategic alliances are even more key. I assume they stand by allies to some extent, even if it looks bad or they’re losing, to avoid fracturing of alliances. Ukraine being a proxy war is something that is either lost upon or simply not talked about in the west much and you can see it in the very simplistic surface-level discussions people have about the war in western-centric internet communities.