Fanning hate on Chinese netizens, NYT can't hide US' warlike nature

[superadmin]

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalates, the US - the world's biggest war machine - is still busy inciting more chaos. At the same time, some of the US' propaganda tools are working at full throttle to cooperate with Washington's strategy. Right now, one of the targets of their attacks is China and Chinese netizens.

A New York Times (NYT) article on Sunday entitled "Why the Chinese Internet Is Cheering Russia's Invasion" argues that Chinese netizens generally are "pro-Russia, pro-war and pro-Putin" while the world is "overwhelmingly" condemning Russia's military operation in Ukraine. The tone of the article's argument sounds as if China and its netizens are standing on the opposite of the rest of the world.

The report cites comments of several users on China's Twitter-like social media Sina Weibo as evidence. However, with the number of Chinese internet users at more than 1 billion, could just some eye-catching voices represent the attitude of the entire group of Chinese netizens? There are many anti-war voices on US social media platforms, does it change the US from being a warlike country?

Those voices from the Chinese internet are more about understanding Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision, rather than supporting it. Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times there might be two reasons behind this.

"First, and most importantly, the US views China and Russia as its top two 'enemies.' It has been making all efforts to contain the two countries. It is natural that Chinese people can easily understand Russia's feelings," he said.

On the other hand, Lü noted, many Chinese people believe that this is a counterattack that Putin had to make under the strategic dilemma he was being forced to face. The majority of Chinese netizens understand that the eastward expansion of NATO and the historical feud between Russia and Ukraine are the root causes of the current military conflict.

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