Why Vladimir Putin is not a pariah in China
China is presented as an exception: a peace-loving giant that seeks only to do good. Instilling cynicism about the world serves the party well. Without it, February 4th could be a ticklish anniversary for President Xi Jinping.
It is a year since his declaration that China and Russia enjoy a “friendship without limits", days before Vladimir Putin launched his blood-soaked, land-grabbing invasion of Ukraine. Russian savagery quickly obliged once-close partners, such as Germany, to declare Mr Putin a dangerous warmonger. Mr Xi has more room for manoeuvre because Russia is not a pariah in mainstream Chinese opinion.
In part, propaganda and censorship explain why. Each night for almost a year, the main evening news has blamed the Ukraine conflict on America and the NATO defence alliance, which are accused of pushing Russia into a corner by expanding eastwards. As recently as January 30th, the foreign ministry in Beijing charged America with prolonging the war and of “profiteering from the fighting" by sending heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Many Chinese who hear talk of Russian war crimes, such as an alleged massacre of civilians in Bucha, suspect that it is “fake news" invented by Ukraine and allies in the West, suggests Professor Wang Yiwei of Renmin University. In part, something starker is at work. In its teachings the party implies that it is simply naive to ask whether governments are wicked or virtuous.
Their impact on China is what counts. Russia has large armed forces and commodities to sell, and shares China’s resentment of America. China’s rulers, and still less its people, do not care who controls this or that oblast of Ukraine.
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