Oh, I think part of this rapid coming together of companies and governments to imposes sanctions on Russia is as much about China -> Taiwan as it is about Russia -> Ukraine.
There are a variety of parallels in histories here. None of them exact except the clear desire subsume them. And while nothing about these situations is simple, part of the message were seeing may be aimed at China, as if to say "this is what will happen to you too".
That might not seem like a lot, but China's stability and economy as a whole is much more reliant on global commerce that Russia.
European countries know that a huge fraction of their energy comes from Russian sources, and Russia can turn that off, but the implied message right now is "we are willing to deal with those consequences" if/when Russia goes down that path. (Though economically, on top of the other sanctions, that would hurt them a lot too)
So part of the implied message to China is also that of, "Yes we know we rely on you for much, but we relied on Russia for a piece of basic, essential, fundamental infrastructure and were willing to let it go.".
I agree with everything you said, except for that last line. I think we (USA and general "western" identity) claim to be willing to let it happen, but only in words. I don't think that stance will last. Time will tell, I guess.
There are a variety of parallels in histories here. None of them exact except the clear desire subsume them. And while nothing about these situations is simple, part of the message were seeing may be aimed at China, as if to say "this is what will happen to you too".
That might not seem like a lot, but China's stability and economy as a whole is much more reliant on global commerce that Russia.
European countries know that a huge fraction of their energy comes from Russian sources, and Russia can turn that off, but the implied message right now is "we are willing to deal with those consequences" if/when Russia goes down that path. (Though economically, on top of the other sanctions, that would hurt them a lot too)
So part of the implied message to China is also that of, "Yes we know we rely on you for much, but we relied on Russia for a piece of basic, essential, fundamental infrastructure and were willing to let it go.".