There’s a similar dynamic playing out with China that played out with Russia last year. Russia used to have very subdued relations with countries like Iran or DPRK because they didn’t want to incur secondary sanctions from US as a result of open trade. However, once US decided to go nuclear with the sanctions against Russia then there was no reason to keep holding back.

Similarly, China has been playing a balancing act to avoid getting cut off from business in the west while low key supporting Russia. Now that US is becoming more openly hostile towards China, there is an increased incentive for China to deepen relations with Russia. You can see how China is increasingly publishing articles like this and this openly telling the west that their relationship with Russia is solid.

In particular, the CHIPS act basically ensures that Chinese companies won’t have access to high end tech from the west. So, tech companies that previously worried about getting sanctioned, will have little to worry about going forward. The worst has already been done.