China will get Taiwan sooner or later.

And they are closely watching how the Ukraine situation works out.

To do so it must demonstrate regional power and control.
So it must get Taiwan back for that purpose.

On an emotional level, China feels Taiwan is a province stolen from them. And they want it back. And they could do it quickly before the US has time to get involved.

China has greatly built up its military forces and could take back Taiwan at some point.

The global powers are shifting. The western democracies are greatly weakened and Russia and China are making their moves.

Laying the ground work for their invasion of Taiwan.

The West is not as weak as you suggest. Russia is very vulnerable to economic sanctions and China faces numerous potential domestic crises. China's plan to dominate the China Sea has not worked out very well in spite of the small bases they have established on hastily constructed "islands" off the shores of neighboring countries.

And are willing to take action to claim global superiority.

China will get there, Russia I don't know about.

China is a bigger question mark.

And we are still in the beginning act of Russia's playbook.

China wins either way. It ether learns from Russia's mistakes or builds upon Russia's wins.

"soft power," but if they invade Taiwan, that investment will be for nought. Particularly after what they've done in Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong. China studied the aftermath of the USSR's demise, hoping to avoid a similar debacle. Now they are keeping a calculated distance from Putin by declaring that Taiwan is different from Ukraine.

The only reason to accrue so much soft power is to allow for hard power to be used, to get the things it really wants.

What is the point of having capital if you don't spend it at some point?

If they are going to be a global superpower they will have to make a big show of force.

Yes their current stance is about distancing from Russia but also laying the groundwork for taking Taiwan. It is their territory, stolen from them.
So they will say.

China can't have their cake and eat it too.

Of course China continues to claim that Taiwan is an "an inalienable part of China" because that's been their position all along. But by stating that Taiwan and Ukraine are different, they're implying that Ukraine is not an inalienable part of Russia -- in other words, they are not supporting Putin's land grab. Is that the implication here?

It would definitely seem that China rejects the Russian claim that Ukraine is not a fully sovereign nation. However there can be other rationals advanced for why one nation sends forces into another, other than rejecting their claim of independent sovereignty. This Chinese statement is silent on whether or not Russian claims of genocide against Russian speakers inside Ukraine have any merit, for example.

It also sounds like a pre-sell for a more supportive global reaction. Good luck with that.

then I will believe them. until that time, this is just more of their spin that they have always put on their belief that Taiwan has always been part of china

I doubt they want to be seen doing much at all. But it seems like by saying, "Ukraine is different, because our claim to Taiwan is legitimate," that's a subtle indication that they are not going to publicly back the Russian invasion. Which is probably the best we can hope for at this point.

Saying that Taiwan is not like the eastern parts of Ukraine in which the people of the region can decide to separate from Ukraine and ultimately join Russia. Basically that what is good for Russia over there doesn't apply to China and Taiwan. I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect that's where it's going.

indigenous peoples.

China never gave a shit about Taiwan till Portugal and I think Spain established colonies there.

especially now that Russia's military forces are elsewhere.

If I am doing my math correctly, then I think the answer comes out to be zero.

So Xi would say there's a lot of room for error, objectively speaking.