Ukraine war: Russians disappointed by the Chinese

In six months of war Beijing has not shown itself to be a reliable partner for Moscow. Chinese people have little interest in what is happening in Ukraine, except for their opposition to the West. Chinese industries and banks fear secondary sanctions from the US and Europe.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - China will take part in Russian military exercises "Vostok-2022" in the Siberian Far East. Beijing's army leadership explained the purpose of the participation as "deepening pragmatic and friendly cooperation" and also "elevating capabilities to counter various security threats". Experts and Russians living in China, contacted by Sibir.Realii, believe, however, that in six months of war in Ukraine China has not shown itself to be a completely reliable partner for Russia, and is unlikely to be in the near future.

Russian entrepreneur Mikhail Čertykov has been working in China for a few years now, after moving from the Siberian region of Khakhasia, and is in the retail business. According to his account, during the first months of the war, strong arguments arose among Russians living in China about support for the Russian invasion, although in general Russians abroad are much less aggressive than those at home, partly due to the lesser influence of state propaganda.

"Here in China, the official press merely copies the Kremlin's communiqués, but there are different nuances: for example, Chinese propaganda mainly insists that the conflict is fuelled by the West, with the supply of weapons to Ukraine, while everything would be resolved peacefully if Kiev surrendered to the invader."

Čertykov says the Chinese population is not interested in the details of Russian-Ukrainian relations, or the specific motivations of this war, but they are limited to the concept of opposition to the collective West, in which Russia tries to curb the spread of Western values towards the East.

"For them, Ukraine is like Eritrea for us, which we know very little about; we say that China stands on one leg, the economic one, while the political one is stuck. The West stands on both legs, and therefore poses a threat to Beijing'. The Chinese, the entrepreneur explains, are 'just trying to keep the balance, saying that you should not rock the boat to avoid shipwreck'.

Khabarovsk native Elena teaches languages in Shanghai. She confirms that the war in Ukraine has not affected the daily lives of the Chinese in the slightest, and one does not see more Russian initiatives on the streets of their cities. "For the Chinese, the war in Ukraine is an image on television, and nothing more, especially as they only show official meetings or some general scenes from the front, no one knows what happened in Buča or Mariupol... many when they learn that I am Russian show me their thumbs up, and say things like 'Putin is great!', to which I just smile bitterly in response."

Russian sinologist Viktor Uljanenko believes that alternative sources of information are still accessible in China, as they are in Russia, but people still believe the official propaganda en masse: 'The population relates to Ukrainian events as they are told from above; the press says that Russia has every reason to do what it is doing, and the eternal enemy always remains the US... the ruling elite is not so simplistic, however.

Uljanenko also deals with Chinese business in Russia, and according to his account, Chinese exporters since the beginning of the war have begun delaying deliveries, or simply cancelling them, to prevent many technical items from being dismantled for military use. They now demand the exact destination of each product before accepting shipment to Russia.

China does not approve of or adhere to sanctions against Russia, but in its own way has introduced a number of restrictions, also to avoid secondary sanctions. In fact, Chinese banks and many companies work according to the criteria imposed by the West, and 'this is the position indicated by the authorities', notes Temur Umarov, an expert at the Carnegie Fund.

'Banking institutions,' Umarov adds, 'obey the Central Bank, which indicates that it takes sanctions into account, even though its recommendations are not published in any documents... China is very pragmatic, and works only with predictable partners.' According to all interviewees, China has no intention of supporting Russia militarily, because it would not gain any real advantage from it.

• russia
• china
• war
• invasion
• ukraine
• sanctions
• economy
• banks