And "not adding fuel to the fire" is just a nice way of saying "stop sending them weapons you idiots!".

Unfortunately i think there is a cultural barrier here at play in that the Chinese are used to being very polite in their speech and using symbolism and metaphorical language, whereas the West is too blunt and barbaric to understand that kind of subtlety so they misinterpret it as China being timid and on the fence.

This isn't just a problem when it comes to the Ukraine conflict and China's stance toward it, it also affects how the West perceives China's stance toward the Taiwan issue. Because China is oftentimes being too diplomatic in its language the West looks at that as a sign of weakness and thinks it can continue to push even further up to or beyond China's red lines, which is very dangerous.

Here's where i have to criticize China and say that i think they need to do better in understanding the mentality of the West. I get the impression that sometimes they just can't believe that anyone can be this barbaric and uncivilized, but unfortunately we are.

They assume too much that everyone thinks like them, that their interlocutors understand culturally complex symbolic gestures, and that everyone ultimately will be reasonable and respond to politeness in kind. Things may work that way in Asia but that's not how Europeans are.

When you're dealing with the kinds of racist, genocidal lunatics who are in charge in the West the only thing they understand is naked force, both in rhetoric and in action.