Putin’s speech on Tuesday, the annual address to the Federal Assembly in Moscow, has triggered online discussions about Russia, the Ukraine war, and China’s position.
The speech that Russian President Putin delivered in Moscow has become a trending topic on Chinese social media. In the hot search lists on the Weibo app, the state-of-the-nation address even became one of the most popular hashtags on Tuesday (#普京国情咨文建华#).
In his lengthy speech, Putin portrayed the United States as an evil and aggressive global power, stating that its military actions have caused the deaths of thousands of people since 2001 and that the U.S. and other Western nations, along with Ukraine, are to blame for the ongoing war.
Early on in his address, Putin suggested that, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was already the goal of Western leaders to destabilize Russia and make the Russian people suffer. “They don’t care about the world,” he said, claiming Western people were used as “tools of lies,” just as Ukraine was being exploited as an “anti-Russian tool” and “launch pad” against Russia:
“The Western elites do not hide their goal of defeating Russia. They want to take us off the map. They want to turn a local conflict into a global confrontation. And this is how we understand this, and we will respond adequately. Because this is now about the very existence of our country. But they cannot ignore the fact that Russia cannot be defeated on the battlefield, so they are waging increasingly aggressive information attacks.”
The Russian leader blamed the West for creating a “spiritual catastrophe” by “distorting truths,” “attacking Russian culture” and the “orthodox church.” He stressed that Russian faith is the faith of the country, criticizing how the holy texts’ teachings on the family as a union between woman and man have become “increasingly doubted” in the West, where the Church of England is now considering the idea of a “gender-neutral God.” He said: “They don’t know what they’re doing, what can we say, may God forgive them.”
The later parts of Putin’s address were very much focused on Russia and its future, including its economy, education, infrastructure, the strengthening of the state and Russian culture – overall, painting a picture of a strong and confident Russia.
In line with that discourse of a Russia that would “fully count on its own potential,” Putin also stated that Russia would suspend the last nuclear treaty with the United States.
“Not a single country in the world is invincible.”
On Weibo, multiple hashtags related to Putin’s speech are making their rounds. One of them is “Putin States Russia is Invincible” (#普京称俄罗斯是不可战胜的#), initiated by state media outlet Global Times, and “Putin Reiterates That Ukraine Provoked the War” (#普京重申是乌克兰挑起战争#) or “Putin Says the West Started the War” (#普京称是西方发动战争#).
Another hashtag, also hosted by Global Times, was about Russia suspending its participation in the New START treaty (#普京宣布俄暂停参与新削减战略武器条约#).
Most of the comment sections of the threads dedicated to Putin’s speech on Weibo only allow selected comments to appear. One post by Global Times about Putin’s claims that it is “the West” that started the war had over 400 replies, yet only a few were displayed.
Nevertheless, from the hundreds of comments across Weibo underneath the many different new posts – some using creative language and word jokes, – it becomes apparent that Weibo commenters are very roughly separated into three groups when it comes to Putin’s speech: those who support Putin’s words and make pro-Russian remarks, mainly in the context of anti-Americanism; those who do not pick sides but just want the war to end (without China getting involved); and those who joke about Putin and Russia’s alleged desperate attempts to bring out the glow despite its fading victory. The latter group is not necessarily anti-Russian, but they also do not have confidence in Russia’s military power (also read: Why Russia Is Nicknamed the “Weak Goose” on Chinese Social Media.)
“There’s not a single country in the world that is invincible,” one Weibo user wrote, with others suggesting that Russia is “crying without tears” and is tightly embracing its nuclear weapons because they are losing the war.
“He’s becoming as comical as Trump now,” another commenter said about Putin. Meanwhile, a topic about Donald Trump claiming he could solve the Russia-Ukraine war “in 24 Hours” also attracted attention on Chinese social media (#特朗普称能24小时解决俄乌冲突#).
“It’s funny, when the Russia-Ukraine war just started, so many people were supporting Russia, but I can see they are changing direction now,” another blogger wrote.
“Who you support and who you oppose all depends on who our enemy is. The United States is now our enemy. So do we support Russia or Ukraine?”
The Russian Embassy in China also posted about the speech on their Weibo account, highlighting Putin’s comments blaming the United States for starting the war. Most of the comments replying to that post were in support of Russia and expressed anti-American sentiments. “American hegemony and their plundering are the source of all chaos in the world,” one typical comment said.
“The enemy of our enemy is our friend,” one Shandong-based blogger (@大风吹奏) wrote: “The friends of the enemy are our enemies. This is the plain and simple logic of the ordinary people. So who you support and who you oppose all depends on who our enemy is. The United States is now our enemy. So do we support Russia or Ukraine? It’s self-evident.”
This week, US Secretary Antony Blinken met with Chinese top diplomat Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference. Afterward, Blinken expressed concerns over Chinese companies supporting Russia and China potentially supplying weapons to Russia in the near future.
On Monday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) responded, saying that the one providing weapons to the battlefield was the United States, and not China (“向战场源源不断提供武器的是美方而不是中方”). Wang Yi also had a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on the margins of the Munich Security Conference.
At the same time, U.S. President Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine and met with President Zelensky for first time since the start of the war. During the visit, Biden vowed that the US will back Ukraine in its fight against Russia for “as long as it takes.”
According to Chinese political commentator Hu Xijin (胡锡进), who wrote a column about Putin’s speech on his Weibo account, the spotlight appearance of both Putin and Biden showed the stark difference between the 70-year-old “quick-witted and eloquent” Putin and the 80-year-old seemingly “confused” Biden.
But Hu Xijin wrote that the outcome of the Ukrainian war is still very much up in the air, and that it is important for China to stay out of it. Instead of being forced to pick a side in the conflict, China should keep advocating for righteousness and justice and focus on its own development.
Hu’s stance is very much in line with the official narrative on China’s position in the Ukraine war. Although it may officially be “neutral” when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine War, it is not neutral when it comes to the United States and the role it plays on the world stage today.
On February 20, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a report titled “the US Hegemony and Its Perils” (“美国的霸权霸道霸凌及其危害”), in which it condemned the U.S. for interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and instigating “color revolutions” and regional conflicts. The report also suggested that in Ukraine, as well as in other countries, United States is “repeating its tactics” of waging proxy wars (see English version/Chinese version).
Regarding Putin’s speech: besides the openly pro-Russian comments and the more neutral ones, there are very few social media comments on Weibo at the time of writing that are strongly opposing Russia. There are also little to none that are in favor of China getting involved in this war.
“We should support peace talks, and oppose America adding fuel to the fire,” one top commenter on Weibo replied, with another saying: “Oppose war, choose peace, stay neutral.”
Many netizens say they just want the war to end. “Know when to stop, world peace now,” one person wrote. “Wake me up when World War Three is over.”
One US-based Weibo user wrote: “They’ve been fighting for a year, enough already, let there be peace.”
By Manya Koetse
with contributions by Miranda Barnes