Chinese internet or US foreign policy? Why some Indonesians support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

When the UN General Assembly held its Special Emergency Session this month, Indonesia – along with 140 other countries – voted in favour of a resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But the Muslim-majority country’s official stance is not shared by all its citizens.

Mako Setiawati, a resident of Situbondo, a small town in East Java, is among them. The 75-year-old Indonesian-Chinese retiree has been getting her news about the war from social media, including messages sent by her contacts on WhatsApp. One message that was forwarded multiple times originated on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo and was translated into both English and Indonesian.

It used an analogy to explain why Russia had invade Ukraine, likening Moscow to a long-suffering husband who allowed his ungrateful wife – Kyiv – to keep the children after she asked for a divorce. He even paid off her debts. But the ex-wife went on to have a dalliance with the village bully – the United States in this analogy – and befriended a group of prostitutes (US allies) and besmirched her ex-husband’s name. The man lost his patience and demanded the return of one child (Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014), but the wife also began treating other children badly, forcing the man to confront her.

“I can hardly sympathise with Ukraine because it treated Russia badly and is now reaping the fruit of its own sowing,” Mako said, referring to Moscow’s insistence that it acted due to security concerns about Ukraine’s efforts to join the European Union and the Western military alliance Nato.

It is a view China has echoed. It has not condemned Russia, its close ally, or described its actions as an invasion, insisting it remains “objective and impartial”. Beijing says it respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and wants to play a “constructive role” in mediating the conflict in Ukraine.

Mako said she had seen many Chinese language messages and videos espousing the Russian viewpoint. She likened the US decision to invade Iraq in 2003 to destroy weapons of mass destruction and unseat dictator Saddam Hussein to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move on Ukraine.