Local Chinese (including much of the Chinese urban elite), due to their lack of international exposure outside of tourism and the media, really do feel sheltered in many ways. This is a great example where again, they thought in terms of isolated national stereotypes ("Switzerland has always been neutral"), rather than the broad sweep of history and geopolitics.
Where is Switzerland? Northern Europe. Who controls it? Northern Europeans. What does it specialize in? International banking - most of it in dollars. In which circles do its political and economic elites run? Western circles.
Why in the world, then, would you assume Switzerland would remain neutral in a conflict that involves the West, on one side, and Russia or China, on the other? The Swiss count themselves among the West. The reason they stayed strictly "neutral" during the two World Wars was because those were wars within Europe and the Swiss were actually sympathetic to both sides. But during the Cold War, they leaned more towards the West; and after it, they have consistently put themselves behind the liberal, democratic world order led by the US.
Northern Europeans like the Swiss talk a great game, but at the end of the day, they are pragmatic. They will not violate their self-interest, and their self-interest is, more so than anything else, a world system dominated by European peoples. Their "neutrality" in this sense is that they're willing to play both sides as much as they can, but when push comes to shove, and the US is forcing them to make a hard choice, they'll inevitably side with the West.
Outside of China and maybe Singapore, there is no place in the world where Chinese elites can currently count on their financial interests being defended. They need to learn that, as Russians have.
