SINGAPORE (AP) – While the West condemns Russia, President Vladimir Putin has vocal supporters in China, where the ruling Communist Party is telling its people they are other targets of US-led harassment.
“If Russia is destroyed, we will be next. That’s for sure, “said Wang Yongchun, a retiree in Beijing. “The United States wants to dominate the world.”
Such comments reflect the position of the ruling party, which is the closest thing Putin has to a key ally: The war must stop, but the United States is to blame.
President Xi Jinping’s government tried to distance itself from Russia’s offensive, but avoided criticizing Moscow. The government offered to act as a mediator and condemned trade and financial sanctions against Russia.
The ruling party’s control over all Chinese media and intense internet censorship make it difficult to assess public opinion. But what the party allows online and requires the media to publish clarifies what the public wants to think.
Last week, the media was told to publish only pro-Russian content and to censor anti-Russian or pro-Western views, according to a copy of instructions posted on the Beijing News social media account. The post was later deleted.
Expressions of sympathy for Ukraine and support for Russia appear online and on social media, but no criticism of Moscow.
“When war breaks out, aren’t the children of ordinary people the ones who serve as cannon fodder?” Said a post signed by Da Ke Ming Yi on the social media platform Weibo. “Those who died were children of ordinary people.”
A letter signed by five professors from prominent universities criticizing Russia for attacking a weaker neighbor appeared briefly on social media before being deleted.
“We oppose unjust wars,” said scholars from schools, including Tsinghua University in Beijing, the alma mater of many ruling party leaders.
Comments published by nationalists criticize the professors for not adhering to the ruling party’s official position on neutrality.
The ruling party has spent decades using school textbooks and state-controlled media to fuel feelings of nationalist discontent. He accuses the United States of trying to block China from rising to its legitimate position of global leadership.
State media reiterated Beijing’s position that the United States and its European allies were to blame for the war in Ukraine because they failed to respond to Russia’s fears that their democratic neighbor should be barred from joining NATO, the Western military alliance.
This reflects China’s complaints that Washington and its allies are interfering in its internal affairs and issues of national sovereignty, including its claims to Taiwan, territorial disputes in the South China Sea and Xinjiang, the far western region where China is accused. detaining over a million Uighurs.
Russia’s attack, as a historic event, “is not good,” but “people think the Russia-Ukraine conflict is because the United States has caused problems,” said Zhen Bowen, a 38-year-old engineer.
The state-run Capital News called on the public to line up with the ruling party: “The attitude of the nation is our attitude.”
“China has always maintained a fair and responsible attitude, calling on all countries to show restraint and alleviate the situation and return to dialogue and negotiations,” the statement said.
However, the newspaper seems to support Putin’s call for Ukraine to become a neutral buffer between Russia and Europe and to give up the possibility of NATO membership.
“Ultimately, Ukraine should be a bridge between East and West, not a border of confrontation between the great powers,” Capital News reported.
Comments online call on China to support Russia by buying its exports of oil, gas and other goods.
“Let the Russian embassy sell its goods live. Let’s show them China’s purchasing power, “said a comment signed by Bao Zou Guang Xiao Pang in Weibo. Get 42,000 likes.
A separate comment advocating that China maintains normal trade with Russia, implicitly rejecting sanctions, received nearly 80,000 likes.
Social media platforms called on consumers to act responsibly and said they had removed thousands of posts about the attack on Ukraine.
Douyin, a short video service run by China’s TikTok owner, said it had deleted more than 3,500 videos and 12,100 comments due to “vulgar, derogatory, sensational and hostile comments”.
The popular messaging service WeChat also complained about “vulgar publications” which it said had a “negative impact on cyberspace”.
It says some users “took the opportunity to publish bad information about current international affairs”, including comments belittling the war, such as rude jokes about “getting credit for a course by going to Ukraine and fighting the war”. and asked “Ukrainian beauties to come to China,” the platform said.
The WeChat publication was later shared by a unit of China’s Internet service, China’s Cyberspace Administration.
Weibo said it has removed more than 4,000 publications that are vulgar and ridiculed war. It says more than 10,000 accounts have been closed.
“A peaceful environment is not easy,” the company said in a social media post. He called on consumers to “maintain an objective and rational attitude” and to participate in the discussion “in a reasonable way”.
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AP video producer Olivia Zhang of Beijing contributed to the report.