I was in same danger until I just tryharded the difficult bosses. They’re really tough compared to previous Metroids and I haven’t got used to that. Btw, did you drop your game soon after release? A post-release update gave a rookie difficulty mode that might give some mercy on next playthroughs.

GTA2 moment

Despite ideological relatedness they really weren’t in good terms. China and Soviet Union even had an armed border conflict in 1969. They’ve also had those old area disputes still in 2000s as well.