Epoch INSIGHT Issue 10 (2022)

I N F O R M AT I O N WA R

Pro-Russia Propaganda Proliferates in China as Moscow’s Isolation Grows China’s tightly controlled online space is decidedly pro-Russian

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By Eva Fu f russia needs to find some support amid the piling Western condemnation for its invasion of Ukraine, all it takes is a browse on the Chinese internet.

In China’s tightly controlled online space, pro-Moscow sentiment dominates. Celebrities are chastised for voicing sympathy for Ukraine. Hawkish Russian remarks are cheered. And some Chinese users describe Russian President Vladimir Putin as a hero standing up to the West.

The enthusiasm has extended to e-commerce. Some Chinese have flocked to a Russian-owned online store that was said to be endorsed by the Russian Embassy in China, clearing shelves of its products, from chocolates to wafers and vodka.

“Every chocolate is a bullet fired at the nazis, ypa!” wrote one buyer in the store’s review section, in an apparent reference to Putin’s claim that he wanted

to “de-Nazify” the country, in justifying the invasion.

The outlet, known as the Russian National Pavilion, saw its online following soar threefold within a day, and has received a total of 50,000 orders since Feb. 28, according to Chinese media reports.

By March 2, a video had popped up from Sergey Batsev, an ambassador to China for the Russian nonprofit Business Russia, thanking “Chinese friends” for supporting his country in such “difficult times.”

“During this complicated and ever-changing international situation, we have seen our old Chinese friends’ camaraderie,” he said. “There’s an old Chinese saying that a goose feather sent from far away conveys profound affections.

We will cherish this deep friendship in our hearts.”

Meanwhile, nationalist voices on social media have cheered a strong Russia–China partnership.

Sergey Batsev, an ambassador to China for Russian nonprofit Business Russia, thanks Chinese buyers for their support for a Russian online store.

28 I N S I G H T March 11–17, 2022

FROM TOP: STR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES, JD.COM/SCREENSHOT VIA THE EPOCH TIMES

“I said long ago that with China acting as a shield for Russia, whatever Western sanctions will dissolve to nothing,” wrote a nationalist Chinese scholar on Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent. The post included photos that appeared to show long lines of shoppers inside a Russian store in northern China. He had visited the website of the Russian National Pavilion twice without finding anything available to buy, he said.

It’s unclear to what extent these viewpoints reflect the broader public sentiment in China, due to Beijing’s heavy censorship that has silenced voices from the other side.

Several Chinese actors have been censured on Weibo after posting proUkraine remarks. Social media posts by