This weekend, June 24th, the eyes of the whole world were on Evgueni Prigojine. Militia boss Wagner launched an open rebellion against the Russian military leadership before halting his advance towards Moscow to avoid shedding “Russian blood”. He is now to leave for Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarus.
During this episode, the Russian power, which otherwise wants to be strong and united, seemed to waver. A phenomenon that worries many Chinese netizens, insider media reports. On the social network Weibo, the country’s equivalent of Twitter, the hashtag “Putin accuses the Wagner leader of high treason” was viewed more than 2.37 billion times in 24 hours.
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Officially, Xi Jinping’s country claims to be neutral on the invasion of Ukraine and in favor of peace. However, the Chinese President does not hide his support for Russia either. Beijing therefore usually portrays the regime in Moscow as stable and as a bulwark against the West.
“This is not good news for China”
Some Chinese media outlets, including Renmin Wang, the Chinese Communist Party’s official online organ, report that everything is under control in the neighboring country and the event “did not cause any major unrest in Russian society.” On Weibo, however, netizens are concerned about the possibility of a civil war in Russia or the fragility of Vladimir Putin’s power.
“If Russia is crumbling from the outside at the hands of Western powers or suffering from internal chaos, then that’s really not good news for China,” writes one user. “If [le Groupe Wagner] If we really march towards Moscow, there is a risk that war will break out right on our border. “It would be difficult for China not to be affected by such a situation,” feared another.
Insider points out that many of the concerns of Chinese netizens stem from the assumption that if Russia were defeated, the United States could focus solely on weakening China. This discourse thrives on Weibo, a social network that is usually heavily censored. “If Russia collapses, the wolves, led by the ‘beautiful country’, [expression ironique pour désigner les États-Unis, ndlr] will have more energy to target us,” writes, for example, one blogger who has more than a million subscribers.
“If the big goose [surnom que donnent les internautes chinois pour désigner la Russie, ndlr] I can’t keep still, who will bear the consequences? […] Who will be affected in the economic, military and technological spheres by the group led by the ‘beautiful country’?’ warns a user.
Relations between Washington and Beijing have been complex recently. Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on June 19 and discussed “common ground”. However, after the meeting, Joe Biden called his Chinese counterpart a “dictator”.