This. Xi has made annexing Taiwan, essentially, a test of the CCP's legitimacy as ruler of China. If he fails, it's a huge loss of face, for him personally and for the CCP as a whole. Whether their power would survive that loss of face is not something they want to experimentally determine.
This is why is a long while before anything happens, they need to plan for every sanction, unlike russia, they seem to weather it ok, but it’s not very ok
Big difference between Russia and China at the moment. Russia can weather it because they have the energy resources. China does not and has to rely on imports for its energy needs.
