Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s reaction has been the subject of extreme attention, since this country is one of the few allies of President Vladimir Putin and one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
While Beijing has been widely criticized for its refusal to condemn Russia’s actions, it is easy to forget that the Chinese do not all agree with their government. Those who oppose the war may not take to the streets or sign open letters (although a few intellectuals have), because this kind of action is not tolerated by the authorities, but they spoke out loud and clear on social media.
As is common, all stories about the war in Ukraine must toe the official line, and foreign media – the BBC, Reuters and the New York Times, among others – are still prohibited, which limits the public’s access to information. China repeats that the Ukrainian question is complex and accuses the United States of having pushed Russia to the limit by constantly expanding NATO.
Social networks are subject to severe restrictions: content considered contrary to the government’s position is removed and the accounts of their authors blocked. The intellectuals’ open letter referenced above was removed from WeChat just hours after it was posted and is no longer available. [en Chine. Elle a été sauvegardée sur des sites chinois de l’étranger]. Jin Xing, a famous TV presenter who has thirteen million followers, had her Weibo account blocked after speaking out against the war.
Quarrels between friends
The debate on the issue is so heated and emotionally charged that it is causing a falling out among friends: Russia’s supporters blame Ukraine for getting too close to the West and Putin’s critics call it a new Hitler and war criminal.
Take WeChat, for example. It is the most visited social network in China. It has 1.1 billion active users, millions of messages are posted there every day and opinion makers, intellectuals and journalists publish and