BEIJING — China on Wednesday said images of civilian deaths in the Ukrainian city of Bucha were “deeply disturbing” but should not assign blame until all the facts are known.
New evidence of what appears to be widespread civilian massacres following Russia’s withdrawal from the Kyiv areas could complicate Beijing’s attempts to steer public opinion about the conflict, in which China has refused to criticize Moscow.
China supports all initiatives and measures that help “alleviate the humanitarian crisis” in the country and is “ready to continue working with the international community to prevent any harm to civilians,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said. to reporters at a daily briefing.
“The truth and the cause of the incident must be verified,” Zhao said. “All parties should exercise restraint and avoid baseless allegations before closing the investigation.”
Zhao’s comments echoed those of China’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, who had earlier called for an investigation and also called the reports and images of civilian deaths in Bucha “deeply disturbing”.
“The relevant circumstances and specific causes of the incident should be reviewed and established,” Zhang said in a remark before the Security Council on Tuesday, adding, “Before the big picture is clear, all sides should exercise restraint and avoid baseless allegations.”
China has called for talks but has refused to criticize Russia. She opposes economic sanctions against Moscow and accuses Washington and NATO of provoking the war and fueling the conflict by sending arms to Ukraine.
The fully ruling Communist Party-controlled media has largely stuck to a pro-Moscow narrative, including repeating Russian disinformation and baseless conspiracy theories on issues such as alleged US-Ukrainian bioweapons production.
Zhao reiterated China’s objections to sanctions while accusing the US of manipulating the situation to “profit from the chaos and make big bucks.”
“History and reality have proved that sanctions do not bring peace and security, only bring lose-lose or multiple losses, compound the already troubled world economy and disrupt the existing world economic system,” Zhao said.
The hashtag “China says Bucha death needs thorough investigation” was a trending topic on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, with nearly 30 million views and more than 500 discussions as of Wednesday afternoon
Despite the pro-Russian stance of the authorities, which regularly censor posts, opinions have been divided between supporting Moscow, calling for Russia to be held accountable, accusing the West and Ukraine of unreliability, and calling for an impartial investigation.
“This is merely a play put on by the Americans and Ukrainian Nazis to distract public opinion, but people with eyes and hearts around the world will not ignore the fact that the US and Ukraine are researching bioweapons,” one of the articles reads “Understands the Cold War better than America”.
The Russian embassy in Beijing also used the platform to deny the allegations, while its Ukrainian counterpart drew attention to “Russian war crimes against civilians in Irpin,” another city where atrocities are said to have taken place.
Before the February 24 war, China had dismissed talk of a Russian invasion as “fake news” and US fear-mongering about national sovereignty, while refusing to condemn Russian aggression or even use the words “war” and “invasion.” to use, in apparent deference to Moscow.
The Global Times, a nationalist tabloid published by the Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily, attempted to counter the competing messages with an editorial on Wednesday headlined “‘Bucha incident’ should not be used as a pretext for a flare-up.” ‘ to balance.”
“Unless Russia and Ukraine reach a ceasefire, the humanitarian tragedies will not end,” the newspaper said.
“However, it is unfortunate that following the exposure of the ‘Bucha incident’, the US, the initiators of the Ukraine crisis, have not shown any signs of pushing for peace and facilitating talks, but are ready to ease tensions between Russia and Russia in Ukraine are creating obstacles to peace talks between the two sides,” it said.