Georgia attacked Russian peacekeepers and rightfully was punished by Russia. Ukraine attacked ethnic Russians in Crimea and East Ukraine because they refused to recognise the coup of Yanukovich. Russia rightfully punished Ukraine by giving Crimea a referendum and took by Crimea.
Russia helped China a lot in weapons technology, space program, technical know how.
Putin is the best leader in the world by a country mile. His Munich security conference speech in 2007 is legendary. One of the greatest speeches ever given.
Putin ended the Chechen war and revived Russian pride and honour.
Putin also solved the border issue with China.
Putin is the greatest leader in 21st century and one of the greatest leaders of all time.
When Putin speaks, I listen. He tells it like it is without the politically correct bullsh*t.
Putin's Russia is also very weak.
The Russian foreign exchange reserves have fallen from about $550 billion to $350 billion. Russia is burning through its emergency cash pile.
Russia is in a sanctions war with Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Ukraine. You can now add Turkey to the list. This means the Russian economy will be stunted for many years to come. The standards of living in Russia have plummeted.
The Russian Ruble has lost half its value in two years (from 30 to 60 Rubles per US Dollar).
Russian budget cuts are devastating the Russian economy.
Putin is paying a very high price for his political agenda. While Putin's political gains are laudable (e.g. annexing part of Georgia and Crimea) from a Russian perspective, it is unclear whether Russia can hold on to those gains.
Thus, it is not a good idea to advocate that China emulate Russia. Putin's Russia may have won in the short term, but it could lose everything in the long term. Without China extending about $72 billion of credit (or more) to Russia, the Russian economy would probably have imploded by now.
The bottom line is that China's policy is: "Steady as she goes." China is earning an incredible $600 billion in annual trade surpluses. Why rock the boat?
If you want a muscular Chinese foreign policy, why not wait 15 years? China's Navy would be completely built out. Also, China would be mass producing its second generation of stealth fighters. Give China time to mature economically, technologically, and militarily. That would be the optimal time to flex Chinese military muscles.