Message to the Kremlin? The Chinese regime's state media no longer conceals Putin's massacres in Ukraine

Russian attacks hit cities and villages throughout much of Ukraine, including the capital, Kiev, where its inhabitants take shelter in homes and shelters. Russia continues to attack different areas of the city and its surroundings, including a residential neighborhood located 2.5 kilometers from the presidential palace.

Since the Russian invasion began on February 24, the Chinese regime has tried to publicly distance itself from Russian carnage without criticizing Vladimir Putin. While that remains broadly true, experts in China have noticed in recent days that the country's state media, as well as the regime itself, seem to be subtly changing its tone about the war, The New York Times reported.

Observers say that “there is a little less attention to Russia's military might, and a little more attention to the peace talks and the civilian cost of Russian attacks. Russian state propaganda also lost popularity on Weibo, a heavily censored Chinese social network. On Thursday, Weibo's only trending item about the war was a speech by the Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky before the US Congress,” said the US media.

The professor of international relations at Beijing Renmin University Shi Yinhong said in an interview this Friday that he had observed in recent days subtle changes in the official Chinese discourse on the conflict in Ukraine. “This is based on a change in public opinion” in China, the academician said.

The New York Times recalled that in the early days of the war, coverage of “Xinwenlianbo”, an evening news program of the state broadcaster CCTV, emphasized primarily the dominance of the Russian army and its operation in Ukraine.

“This week, however, there have been more images of Zelensky and a more direct mention of the Russian attacks. A similar change has been evident in the coverage of CGTN America, the global arm of China's state-owned broadcaster,” the quoted newspaper added.

“The bodies of people killed by Russian bombings lay covered in much of Ukraine,” CGTN America said on its Twitter account this Friday. He added: “With the number of people fleeing the conflict growing to millions and Russian bombings continuing, many fear that the humanitarian disaster is far from over.”

However, such publications do not indicate a radical change in Chinese foreign policy, which has not condemned the Russian invasion and even reaffirmed that Putin is an unconditional ally of the Beijing regime: “What China sympathizes with is not Ukraine as a sovereign nation, but with the Ukrainian people,” the professor continued. Shi.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Chinese officials have blamed the United States and have echoed Vladimir Putin's criticism of NATO. Chinese diplomats and state media have also amplified Kremlin propaganda.

This Friday, while the world's media was covering a Russian bombing this week of a theater in the city of Mariupol, a Chinese state radio station published a report on what it said was a Ukrainian missile attack in Donetsk, a separatist region.

Hours before China's Head of State Xi Jinping spoke Friday with US President Joe Biden, Zhao Lijian, spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, told reporters that his regime was “deeply grieved by the growing number of civilians, victims and refugees reported by the media”.

“The top priority for all parties is to stop the fighting, maintain restraint, ensure the security and basic humanitarian needs of civilians and prevent a larger-scale humanitarian crisis,” Zhao stressed at a press conference.

KEEP READING: