> North Korea-like Russia except actually militarily aggressive doesn't benefit the West
For all its bluster, North Korea isn’t invading anyone. China’s leash has kept the peace. Contrast that with Russia. It’s a fair bet that Putin (and his successors) will behave better under Beijing’s thumb.
China has kept a leash on North Korea because it doesn't want any military operations that aren't its own in it's area of influence. My point of comparison though was about the amount of news coverage that North Korea eats up & defocuses the US government from focusing on more important issues. Russia serves a similar purpose.
As for why China doesn't give two hoots about Russia's military escapades, Russia's military focus is far enough away that this is significantly less problematic. Russia is also a much more serious player on the world stage than North Korea - they have a significantly more important economy, military, more technologically advanced, and not as isolated (not to mention one of the largest nuclear arsenals with ostensibly functional ICBMs). China can't just threaten to overthrow the Russian government if it doesn't behave like they do with North Korea.
None of that matters though since what I said is that an aggressive Russia benefits China well enough in terms of the problems it causes the US.
For all its bluster, North Korea isn’t invading anyone. China’s leash has kept the peace. Contrast that with Russia. It’s a fair bet that Putin (and his successors) will behave better under Beijing’s thumb.