In a press briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian admitted that reports of Russian atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine are “deeply disturbing.” But his larger point was that the United States and the West more generally should stop slapping sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s regime.

“If the United States is truly interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis, they should stop brandishing the sanctions card,” Zhao said at a briefing Wednesday.

Zhao has previously criticized the West’s decision to impose sanctions on Russia, stating that China “always opposes unilateral sanctions.” Another spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of “profiting from the chaos” of the ongoing war.

This seems like a particularly pointless exercise. In fact, the West is ratcheting up sanctions and looking under every crevice for new ways to punish Russia’s genocidal aggression. You can sense the mood when you see Finland, historically fearful of antagonizing the Kremlin, confiscating $46 million worth of loaned artwork that Italy and Japan were trying to return to museums in St. Petersburg and Moscow. This comes on the heels of the Finns seizing 21 Russian-owned yachts.

There’s simply no prospect of the West easing up.

The Biden administration is escalating efforts to punish Russia amid global alarm over civilian deaths, imposing new sanctions that will include two of the country’s largest banks as well as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s adult children, said White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese. The U.S. Department of Justice also indicted Konstantin Malofeyev, the first criminal charges against an oligarch since the invasion began.

China isn’t stupid, so what is the point of spitting into the wind? They’ve trapped themselves by throwing in with Putin as a key ally. Now they’re increasingly taking on the stain of his crimes as well as his failures. They should be giving Putin advice about how to end the sanctions rather than everyone else a lecture on how to react to unprovoked brutality and clear violations of human rights and international law.

No one wants to hear how “deeply disturbing” it is to watch Russia’s slaughter and destruction from people who won’t demand that he stop. This just shows how Putin’s reckless and immoral behavior has become a strategic blunder for China, too.