And China’s Dissemination of Russian Disinformation
OPINION — On February 4th, President Xi Jinping signed a Joint Statement while in Beijing at the Winter Olympics, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, that committed China and Russia to a “friendship that has no limits”, a true strategic partnership. On February 24th, Russia invaded Ukraine. To date, the war has killed thousands of innocent people, displaced over five million Ukrainians, recently uncovered the massacre of 400 civilians in Bucha, with credible reporting of widespread rape and torture perpetrated by the invading Russian Army.
China’s initial reaction to the Russian invasion was an attempt to be neutral, publicly calling for dialogue and an end to hostilities, while permitting its government-controlled media to blame the West for the war while accusing the United States of funding and developing biological weapons in Ukraine and claiming that Ukraine staged the Bucha massacre. Hopefully, this disinformation campaign in China, parroting Russian disinformation, will cease, as more international news filters into China, documenting the truth about Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
It is likely that the leadership in Beijing, reliant on information from Moscow, thought that war with Ukraine would be a cakewalk - over in a few weeks - with the European Union in disarray and the United States disengaged. They were wrong.
The war continues and Russia is losing, badly. But as the war continues, more innocent people will die, and more villages, towns and cities will be destroyed. We know what Putin’s army did in the Chechen capital, Grozny, in 2003, when the city was destroyed, and thousands of people were killed. Russia and the Syrian Government did the same in Aleppo in 2016, with Russia bombing hospitals and schools, killing aid workers and civilians. If the war in Ukraine continues, it’s likely Putin will use similar brutal tactics.
Early in the war, Putin put his nuclear forces on high alert. Indeed, there are no assurances that an angered and desperate Putin wouldn’t use one or more nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine. That would cross a horrific threshold.
Given developments with the war in Ukraine and the likelihood that Putin will persist, there must be concern in China that its alignment with Russia will profoundly affect its relationship with the European Union and the United States, its principal trading partners. Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen, in a recent speech, said, “The world’s attitude towards China and its willingness to embrace further economic integration may well be affected by China’s reaction to our call for resolute action on Russia.”
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A noted Fudan University professor, Feng Yujun, recently published an article saying, “What is certain, is that regardless of the outcome on the battlefield, Russia can be said to have failed politically, economically, and diplomatically.” He goes on to say that during Putin’s over 20 years in power, Russia’s comprehensive national strength has constantly declined; Russia’s way of thinking is backward and while the focus of the 21st century great power competition has shifted to technology, finance, and the ability to shape the global system, Russia’s concerns remain territorial expansion and monopolization of natural resources. Articles like this will have an impact in China, as more of these views are shared with the public.
China has always been a strong advocate for national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference in February, stressed, “that the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of all countries should be respected and safeguarded – and that applies equally to Ukraine.”
Time is of the essence. The war in Ukraine is getting uglier by the day. It’s time for China to intercede to help end this war. And Xi Jinping is the only world leader who can help persuade Putin to do it.
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