Ukraine-Russia crisis: foreign embassies seek support on Chinese social media
- Diplomats from all sides are looking to drum up support on platforms such as Weibo
- It is not clear how far different countries are able to sway Chinese opinion, but some posts by embassies have attracted thousands of views and comments
The most liked comment below the embassy’s post – which read “international court hearing opens on Weibo” – attracted more than 14,000 likes.
However, many of the most-liked comments were less sympathetic to Ukraine. One that said “another country that’s being used as a US chess piece. Pathetic” gained over 10,000 likes.
Beijing has so far officially “expressed concern” about the Ukraine crisis but refrained from taking a clear position on the conflict despite previous calls for “understanding of Russia’s reasonable concerns.”
However, Russia, the United States, Britain and France have all also sought to win over millions of Chinese social media users by posting on Weibo – with mixed results.
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Blinken told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be preserved, but Weibo users reacted with comments such as “then you should not stop us from taking Taiwan back”.
The Russian embassy in China responded by calling the comments “absurd”, a comment that attracted more than 1.1 million likes.
However, it is unclear how far such messages reach normal social media users, especially when they concern topics that do not top China’s diplomatic agenda.
China ‘concerned’ over Ukraine crisis, resists US pressure to take sides
In 2020 the Turkish embassy tried to win support from Chinese internet users during the conflict between Armenia and its ally Azerbaijan.
However, despite having 500,000 followers, a post denying Armenian claims that a Turkish fighter had shot down one of its warplanes attracted just 34 comments.
Despite its current prominence, the Ukranian embassy’s Weibo account has only attracted 4,000 followers since it was opened in 2014 – and most of its comments only attract single-figure likes or comments.