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While trying to be neutral in the Ukrainian War, China acts to censor demonstrations against the conflict on social media.
On Sunday (27), an open letter written by five professors from prestigious Chinese universities (Nanjing, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tsinghua and Fudan) made noise. They criticized Russia and said they “strongly support the efforts of the Ukrainian people to defend their country”.
“This show of power will not only destroy the achievements of civilization and the principles of international justice, but also bring enormous shame and disaster to the Russian nation,” the professors wrote.
The letter disappeared from social media shortly after it was released, but prints of the text continued to circulate.
Also censored was the famous dancer Jin Xing, winner of the Taoli Cup (informally known as the “Oscar of Chinese dance”) and followed by more than 13 million people on Weibo, a kind of Chinese Twitter.
Jin wrote, “express your personal point of view, respect all lives, and continue to oppose war.” Her profile was suspended when she complained about being “blocked by the system”.
While the vast majority of netizens spent the week expressing dismay at the conflict, there was also a backlash from nationalists.
- A sign in Chinese hanging outside the Canadian embassy in Beijing dawned on Tuesday with an English graffiti saying “Fuck NATO”;
Sexist posts about Ukrainian women also went viral. It all started with a joke among netizens, who offered to shelter “Ukrainian girls aged 18 to 24”.
The posts were censored after generating a barrage of like-minded comments and outraged reactions.
Since 2003, when the so-called “Great Firewall” was put into operation, the Communist Party has practically absolute control over what content is or is not available on the country’s internet.
With the advent of social networks, the government has developed a complex system of censorship that ranges from content moderators dedicated to erasing sensitive political topics to the creation of algorithms that are already capable of identifying and blocking topics without human interference.
Companies that do not submit to the system end up blocked, as is the case of Facebook, Twitter, Google and, more recently, the Clubhouse network.
why it matters: from a strategic point of view, it is not in China’s interest to generate popular scrutiny of the conflict at this time. Moscow’s partner, Beijing is trying to secure its position as a mediator between Russians and Ukrainians, which is why it has avoided openly criticizing the invasion.
It is quite likely that censors will continue to moderate the news flow and online reactions to the war for two reasons:
- Images of the humanitarian disaster promoted by Russian troops may generate popular clamor for the Chinese to interfere in the conflict;
​ - Nationalist gloating reactions to Vladimir Putin undermine China’s grip on the neutrality narrative and hamper Beijing’s diplomatic options.
what also matters
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has decided to ban athletes from Russia and Belarus from the Winter Olympic Games, scheduled to start this Friday (4) in Beijing. The body had been under pressure from the Global Athlete movement, which advocates for the interests of athletes.
Earlier this week, the movement released an open letter demanding “strong sanctions” by the IPC on the two countries.
The president of the IPC, the Brazilian Andrew Parsons, even resisted. He stated that he had no power to ban both teams without a general meeting. With several delegations refusing to participate in the competitions if Russia and Belarus were kept, Parsons had to act.
Host of the event, China has not commented on the decision.
China may be preparing to reopen the country’s borders. At least that was the reading of observers and the press after former chief scientist at China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Zeng Guang, wrote about the topic on Weibo.
A member of the team that coordinated the initial response to the disease in the country, Zeng said on Monday (28) that “in the near future, at an appropriate time, there will be a Chinese-style roadmap on how to live with the virus” of Covid.
- According to the SupChina portal, government authorities approved the success of the bubble created around the Olympic Games and could repeat the model at conferences and sports competitions;
- In addition, Paxlovid, Pfizer’s home treatment of mild and moderate cases of Covid, was approved on an emergency basis in China last month.
Beijing would now be watching how Hong Kong – which has adopted the Covid Zero policy but struggles to contain a wave caused by the variant omicron – behaves in controlling the virus.
keep an eye
The meeting known as Two Sessions begins this Friday (4th) in Beijing. The most important date in the country’s annual legislative calendar, the event welcomes politicians from all provinces. On Thursday afternoon, one of the spokespersons for the committee spoke to journalists and gave indications on what the priorities will be in 2022: foreign trade, the pandemic, attracting foreign investment and the development of “Chinese democracy”.
why it matters: it is during the Two Sessions that China votes and discusses the main projects and annual plans for the country.
The 2022 event should pave the way for the election of the new Chinese leadership in November. Xi Jiping will certainly be re-elected to the Party’s general secretary, but who will stand beside him remains a mystery.
to go deep
- Want to understand more about the Two Sessions and expectations around this year’s event? The South China Morning Post published an extensive report on this, highlighting what will be the main projects on the agenda of Chinese lawmakers and the political-economic impact of the decisions. (porous paywall, in English)
- The think tank Observa China restarts the annual cycle of events with a debate on female entrepreneurship in Chinese lands. This Saturday’s guest (5th) is Mara Carneiro, coordinator of the MBA in Business Innovation at FIAP. Applications open at this link (free, in Portuguese)
- Hong Kong has implemented mandatory testing for Covid-19 across the city and has ordered residents to self-test at home. However, the HKFP explains in this text why many positive people are hiding the government’s result (free, in English)
