China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi reportedly told the EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas on July 3 that the country cannot afford for Russia to lose the war in Ukraine amid fears the U.S. would shift focus towards Beijing, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing sources familiar with the conversation.
I don’t think anybody planned beyond that, by everyone’s reactions. But it looks as if people read too much Fukuyama uncritically and not enough Huntington.