As Russian troops encircled the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, a Moscow-based correspondent for the Hong Kong-based, part-owned Chinese state-owned Phoenix TV station visited front-line positions with fighters from the Kremlin-backed Donetsk People's Republic and relayed their statements to viewers in China.
Yu Juguang's reports, which included claims that Ukrainian "Nazis" rather than pro-Russian forces were responsible for civilian casualties, are among the most biased Chinese media coverage of the conflict.
Former diplomat Xi Jiangtao said it seemed "possible" that Putin did not inform Xi of the full scale of the invasion when they met ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
However, such reporting is the exception, not the rule. Although Chinese state media tirelessly blames the United States for the conflict, the narrative tends to portray Beijing as a neutral arbiter.
This division seems to reflect a larger, complex reality as different elements within the Chinese state and economy move in different directions.
The relationship between Beijing and Moscow became even closer during the pandemic, but China is also the largest investor in Ukraine, and its companies and economy are under global attack as a result of the invasion, at a time when the country is facing a new wave of covid-19.
This week, the Institute of International Finance reported that at the start of the war, global investors pulled out of Chinese stocks and bonds on an unprecedented scale, suggesting that foreign investors are viewing China in a new light. Official data showed that foreign investors reduced their holdings of Chinese government bonds the most in February, while stocks fell significantly before recovering in March.
This Sunday, China's state oil refiner Sinopec suspended talks on a major petrochemical merger in Russia, sources told Reuters, and one of several major Chinese companies announced it had suspended or reduced investment in operations there following the imposition of Western sanctions.
It appears that the Chinese authorities are sending mixed messages. On March 21, Zhang Hanui, the Chinese ambassador in Moscow, told Chinese business leaders not to waste time and "fill the void" created in Russian markets due to Western sanctions.
But in Beijing, the Foreign Ministry summoned officials from China's three biggest energy companies this Sunday and instructed them to consider business ties with Russian partners, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. One source said the ministry had urged them to avoid rash moves by buying Russian assets.
Blaming America
Foreign investors have also been leaving Taiwan since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine - according to estimates by Bank of America, the total outflow in the first month of the invasion was 15,6 billion dollars, which is more than during the whole of last year.
The war has also intensified debate on the democratic island, which China claims belongs to it, about extending mandatory military service to a full year, a measure now supported by 75 percent of the population there, according to polls.
However, China's military rhetoric on Taiwan has noticeably quieted since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Chinese media largely rejects comparisons between the two conflicts, while some Chinese social media users express concern that Russia's recognition of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk could be used to justify similar pro-independence moves by Taiwan.
Beijing has repeatedly expressed opposition to sanctions against Russia and refused to call President Vladimir Putin's move an "invasion". Last Sunday, United States President Joe Biden said he made it clear to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that China could regret it if it sides with Russia in the conflict, saying he believes Xi knows China's future is tied to the West.
Washington is also persistently lobbying China not to supply Russia with new weapons.
If anything, it seems to have made China's media campaigns tougher. This Sunday, China's People's Daily, owned by the Chinese Communist Party - which has previously largely limited its reporting to repeating terse announcements - published several editorials blaming US "hegemony" for the conflict in Ukraine. The PLA Daily, which is owned by the Chinese People's Liberation Army, also published a series of articles on the same topic.
The battle for the favor of the Chinese public
Chinese state media have also aggressively reinforced claims by Russian media that link both the invasion and, in some cases, the covid pandemic to US-funded biological research in Eastern Europe, a narrative that was first pushed in the early days of the pandemic and is now a frequent theme of Russian media. and Chinese state media.
However, other Chinese comments are more subtly nuanced. China's state-run Global Times, otherwise unequivocally nationalist, noted with concern this Sunday that Russia's conflict with the United States and Ukraine has now expanded into a larger confrontation with the West.
In a column for the South China Morning Post, former diplomat Xi Jiangtao said it seemed "possible" that Putin did not inform Xi of the full scale of the invasion when they met ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
During the conflict, both Moscow and Kiev maintain a regular dialogue with Beijing, while fighting for favors on China's tightly controlled Weibo social network and other social platforms. Russian diplomats and officials are pushing the Kremlin's line, while Chinese-speaking Ukrainians are translating articles and speaking directly to Chinese social media users to present their very different story of the war.
Last Sunday, German retail chain Media Markt pulled drones made by Chinese manufacturer DJI from its shelves after a social media campaign by pro-Ukraine accounts alleged that the products were being used by the Russian military in Ukraine.
DJI denied the allegations and claimed that Ukrainian users were allegedly leaving their drones behind because they feared they could be tracked by Russian forces. Chinese technology companies entered the Ukrainian market before the invasion, but now face great skepticism there as in other Western countries.
Like Russia, and now the United States after the invasion of Iraq, China is also discovering that unforced war is expensive and unpredictable, not only for the countries that initiate it, but also for those around them. What Beijing does about that discovery could shape the rest of this century.
Translated by: N. Bogetić
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