New Delhi: Chinese expats in Australia are favouring Russia over Ukraine in the raging conflict.
As a mark of their support, they have urged each other to buy Russian food down under. Never mind the taste!
User Han Yang, a Chinese staying in Australia, has in a Twitter thread last Sunday shared such pro-Kremlin propaganda floated by his countrymen on social media.
He noted wryly that despite the political grandstanding, some fussy eaters among the Chinese supporters in Australia also wondered if Russian food tasted good.
They suggest buying Russian food as a way of supporting Putin but worry that Russian food tastes terrible pic.twitter.com/mY5r1CQ5Gs
— 杨涵 Han Yang (@polijunkie_aus) March 6, 2022
The thread was shared by many Chinese diaspora journalists in the West. They called it “eye-opening” and a “great lens to one of the countless cesspools of disinformation in the Chinese-language cyber space”.
?is a great lens to one of the countless cesspool of disinformation in the Chinese-language cyber space https://t.co/efUFNTgPhm
— Tony Lin 林東尼 (@tony_zy) March 6, 2022
Han Yang said he had been invited to a group on WeChat, a Chinese multi-purpose instant messaging platform, equivalent to Whatsapp in India. The group was meant mainly for Chinese migrants living in Australia and it gave Yang a unique “view” of the Ukraine war.
In a screenshot posted by him of the group description, one could see the Chinese national flag as the group’s logo. “As the group members are mostly ‘little pinkies’ (nickname for those who support the authoritarian Chinese government) even though they live in Australia, their views are much in line with Beijing’s, meaning pro-Russia, sharing many pro-Russia posts and propaganda, such as these,” he wrote.
He posted other screenshots of members sharing videos from Chinese state media about the prowess of Russia’s precision attack over Ukraine. Some marvelled at “Russian generosity” with a video about Russian soldiers sharing food with Ukrainian children. Another video showed Ukrainian “prisoners of war reflecting on their sins at a memorial for children killed by the ‘evil Ukrainian government’”.
A cartoon shared took a dig at the US’ involvement in the crisis.
They share video from Chinese media sources about the prowess of Russia precision attack and the decency of Russian tanks letting other vehicles pass at the Red Army’s own risk pic.twitter.com/6ZrfvNASzm
— 杨涵 Han Yang (@polijunkie_aus) March 6, 2022
They share a lame cartoon from Global Times (China’s state media tabloid) pic.twitter.com/PA3rpvr523
— 杨涵 Han Yang (@polijunkie_aus) March 6, 2022
In all 60 tweets, Yang ferreted out instances in which Putin was depicted as a “great leader”. One excerpt doing the rounds on WeChat was about a Beijing-based finance magazine calling Vladimir Putin a “great statesman”.
The posts mocked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and US President Joe Biden. One post was about “Indian students detained by the Russian government as hostages”.
Yang pointed out that WeChat groups were like private groups on Facebook. They are closed to the public and one could only get in by invitation.
“That’s perhaps why people are more frank in airing their views and bigotries. I have masked their names in the pics,” he wrote.
Almost like American right-wing propaganda
Other users were appalled at the Chinese posts, describing them variously as “parallel information world”, an “echo chamber”, a “multiverse” – similar to what would happen if American right-wing propaganda was allowed to run unchecked.
Good thread on China's parallel information universe… and how WeChat helps spread it to Australia (while China's government blocks Facebook, Whatsapp, Insta, Google, Twitter, Youtube etc). https://t.co/ivfCsES0pk
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) March 7, 2022
Diplomatic correspondent Edward Wong of The New York Times said it was a good thread on pro-Russia propaganda pumped out by Chinese government outlets and disseminated by “little pinks” or Chinese Communist Party loyalists on their chat groups.
Good thread on pro-Russia propaganda pumped out by Chinese government outlets and disseminated by “little pinks” (CCP loyalists) on their chat groups https://t.co/U6JJ4kSCog
— Edward Wong (@ewong) March 6, 2022
In India, such unchecked and biased propaganda is derided as the curriculum of a WhatsApp University. Similarly, young Chinese users were quick to call these comments as coming from a “WeChat University”.
Oh my God flashback to all the awful WeChat groups I’ve been in (nicknamed “WeChat University” because that’s where they do their “learning”) https://t.co/QTrqpfKvGp
— TheOmniZaddy ?? (@TheOmniZaddy) March 9, 2022
One Indian user highlighted the Chinese may be actively supporting Russians but it was unfair to put India on the same “neutrality boat” with them.
For context, this is how Chinese are supporting Russia actively.
It's wrong to say India and China are on the same neutrality boat. https://t.co/oOeAnw0f16
— Shadow (@mchellap) March 9, 2022
Also read: ‘Alice, Alyna, Arseniy… newborns breathe acrid air,’ Ukraine first lady on child victims