I don’t think China really backs anyone as a matter of foreign policy.

Their position is really “if y’all don’t fuck around in our internal affairs, we won’t fuck around in yours.” What China claims to be internal affairs is rather broad, but in a historical context it’s seen as “where China was before the Century of Humiliation.” It’s somehow become a common-ground position between the CPC and KMT and stretches from the Opium Wars through the Sino-Japanese Wars and is widely recognized to end at one of two points (depending on who you ask): 1. Just prior to the CPC coming to power in 1949, or 2. Just after the Treaty of San Francisco (which invited neither the PRC or ROC) was signed in 1951.

Yeah, that’s really going to impress the Chinese. This looks like a sign of helplessness more than anything.