Will China help Russia? Can Chinese replicas of Russian SUs cover the skies over Ukraine?

The Russians are trying to mitigate sanctions and get military aid from China. To do this, representatives of Russia appealed to the Chinese leadership, writes NYT. But the publication could not specify what the Russians asked for in addition to economic sanctions.

It is well known that after the invasion, Xi Jinping strengthened its partnership with Russia and Putin personally, while publicly stating that he supports Ukraine's sovereignty. China has also not joined other countries to help Ukraine. Meanwhile, this could be felt as China replicates Russian SU fighters. Perhaps it was about them that fighters should not be provided to Ukraine.

US position

The United States demands that it publicly state its position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This was announced by President Biden on March 15. White House Adviser Jake Sullivan is scheduled to meet next Monday in Rome with Chinese Communist Party Politburo member and director of the party's Central External Relations Commission Yang Jiechi. Relevant warnings will be made during the meeting that China should not allow Russia to evade sanctions. It is planned to persuade China not to intervene in the situation with help.

How could China help Ukraine

As you know, Ukraine is short of aviation weapons and fighter jets that could cover the skies. Another significant problem was the lack of experience in managing Ukrainian pilots of American fighters. In other words, only Russian MiG-29s and SU-27s can be used to protect the sky.

China has issued replicas of the SU, which could hypothetically help Ukraine in a situation where the NATO bloc fears the transfer of aircraft from Poland, so as not to provoke a direct military conflict with Russia. For the same reason, the bloc refuses to cover the skies over Ukraine.

Chinese "SU"

The replica of the SU27 is a Shenyang J-11 fighter, which is based on the SU-27SK glider, but with Chinese avionics and weapons system. Moreover, the basic version was assembled entirely from Russian components and is a copy of the SU-27SK. In the future, the fighter will be equipped with a Chinese FWS-10A Taihang engine.
According to media reports, the Chinese replica of Chinese components is superior in flight characteristics to the SU-27 and corresponds approximately to the level of the new SU-35.

The Government of Ukraine announced the possibility of purchasing fighters of these brands and S-300 air defense systems, but did not address the Chinese government on this issue.