Especially because Russia was the only strong ally China had. Now all their allies are weak. And they're surrounded by hostile powers.
Russia military reputation was severely damaged. Not saying they're not dangerous, but certainly not as much as many imagined.
One of the main causes is the massive corruption in their military. China suffers from the same internal issue. No one can say whether the levels of corruption are similar, but it casts a dark shadow over China's military trustworthiness.
NATO, on the other hand, has proved capable of successfully supporting a weak country against a much greater military power without even stepping foot in battle.
Maybe the most important contributions from NATO (by NATO, read 80% the US) was in strategy and tactics. If they just had sent weapons without good strategy and tactics, the outcome would have been different.
