Hanna Hopko, chair of the board of the national interest protection network ANTS and co-founder of the International Center for Ukrainian Victory, shared her opinions on Espreso TV.“In reality, the collective West is somewhat deceiving itself, especially by failing to take strong measures against China’s military and technological buildup. China is now redirecting its trade toward the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Already, China’s trade with ASEAN exceeds that with the EU. Of course, the U.S. and EU are economically more advantageous for China than ASEAN countries. Still, China is gradually seeking to reduce economic dependence on European markets so that when the EU imposes sanctions, Beijing does not suffer major losses,” Hopko explained.The analyst noted that China is strengthening its military power, drawing lessons from the Russian-Ukrainian war.“At the same time, China has developed its own SWIFT system for banking settlements, which is also a vulnerable point the West could exploit. China is moving very strategically, reducing its dependence on U.S. and EU markets. Beijing understands it can expand its military power by learning from the Russian-Ukrainian war before any conflict in Europe,” she concluded.On October 30 in South Korea, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held talks, including on trade between the world’s two largest economies, as well as on Ukraine. Diplomat Roman Bezsmertny said that the Trump-Xi meeting focused primarily on U.S.-China trade relations, and the Russian-Ukrainian war was not discussed in depth.