Ukraine Invasion Sparks Controversial Commentary on Chinese Social Media

NEW DELHI — 

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, Chinese social media, usually a controlled space, is rife with conflicting comments about Ukraine. Censors have deleted thousands of posts — many containing vulgar sexual remarks about Ukrainian women — along with the accounts from which they originated.

A wide variety of comments are emerging hourly on the chatting platform WeChat; the Douyin video app, or Chinese TikTok; and Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.

Some social media users are asking the Chinese government to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the Ukrainian crisis to seize Taiwan. China regards the self-ruled island as a breakaway province, even though it has its own flag, currency, military and democratic institutions. The Chinese government has said it is ready to bring about a reunification with Taiwan, even if force is required.

Chinese social media is also witnessing an outpouring of support for Russia and criticism of the U.S. over its support for Ukraine. A small number of people are asking why Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to interfere in the affairs of another country by urging Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine to revolt against their local governments.

FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2022. (Sputnik/Aleksey Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters)

Significantly, some commenters are asking why the Chinese government did not stand by its ally Russia during a recent United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine. China, India and United Arab Emirates chose to abstain from voting, a neutral stance.

Commenters have also ridiculed Ukraine for supposedly letting the U.S. make decisions for it.

China’s motives questioned

Along with the posts that are vulgar or praise violence, the Chinese censors have been removing expressions of anti-war sentiment, including an open letter circulated by several academicians calling for an end to the war.

“It is not an easy situation for the government. It cannot support the war. But it is also uncomfortable about intense parading of anti-war sentiment because this has implications on the political situation in Taiwan, Tibet and Hong Kong,” said a Chinese university professor who asked not to be named.

FILE – A man reads the Chinese state-run newspaper with coverage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, on a street in Beijing, Feb. 24, 2022.

The state-controlled Global Times suggested in its Chinese-language edition that anti-Beijing separatists are behind some of the anti-war postings. “Some people surmise that clandestine ‘Taiwan separatists,’ ‘Hong Kong separatists’ and other forces are the ones making waves in public sentiment and public discourse on the Ukraine situation,” wrote Sun Jiashan, a researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts.

Yet the country’s internet censor, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), initially stayed on the sidelines of the debate, allowing some posts questioning Moscow’s policy to remain up. This reflects a wider dilemma for Chinese authorities as their ally, Russia, supports and endorses a separatist movement in eastern Ukraine while carrying out an unprovoked attack on a neighbor.

“China overall is following events but not taking a clear stand, and why should it? For China this war is a lose-lose proposition,” said Francesco Sisci, a senior research associate at Renmin University of China in Beijing.

“If Russia wins, it gets stronger, and China will feel the weight again of the northern neighbor. If it loses, China will be more isolated,” Sisci told VOA. “Plus, it didn’t trust Russia to begin with. Still, China’s official stand is strongly anti-American, and [as seen] from Beijing, this war was set up by the U.S., which pushed Russia around.”

FILE – People walk past an office of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) in Beijing, China, July 8, 2021.

Nevertheless, the CAC and social media platforms have weeded out thousands of postings containing objectionable comments and videos. The agency said it was cracking down on “self-media” — social media accounts held by independent content producers who share irresponsible political ideas. It also said it wants to control the distribution of information across all internet platforms to end “disruption to the order of internet broadcasts.”

Douyin said it had removed 3,500 videos and 12,100 comments related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is investigating objectionable posts, such as those calling for the “capture of beautiful Ukrainian women,” spreading inappropriate values, and harming the platform’s atmosphere.

Backlash in Ukraine

Other postings suggest the Chinese government’s posture has prompted anger toward Chinese students studying in Ukraine. Several of them have cited hostility from local residents and expressed concern for their safety.

The Chinese flag is put on the fence of the Chinese embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 1, 2022.

The Chinese Embassy in Kyiv initially asked its citizens to clearly identify their nationality while traveling in Ukraine. It later changed the order to say that they should stay indoors and not identify their nationality until further instructions are issued.

“The Ukrainians are going through difficulties. … We need to understand them and not provoke them,” the embassy told Chinese citizens in Ukraine.

The official Xinhua News Agency also joined the government in urging social media users to “discuss and present in a reasonable way” and criticized those who “spoke inappropriately.”

US Plan for New Center to Process Afghan Evacuees in Virginia Sparks Controversy

Washington — 

The U.S. government aims to open a new center in Northern Virginia to receive additional Afghan evacuees, according to four sources familiar with the matter, although even before any official announcement the local sheriff in the area raised concerns about the plan.

The center is due to open as the government closes down the last of eight sites on military bases that housed tens of thousands of people evacuated from Afghanistan since August. It would be staffed by multiple U.S. agencies involved with the resettlement effort and could be operational by late February or early March, a senior U.S. official told Reuters.

The site being considered is in Leesburg, Virginia, according to two of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement to Reuters that it was still working to confirm the location of the center.

The sheriff’s office of Loudoun County, where Leesburg is located, issued a statement Thursday saying it was told by DHS that the government planned to bus some 2,000 Afghan evacuees a month, mostly relocating from Qatar, to the National Conference Center (NCC) from nearby Dulles International Airport beginning this month.

Sheriff Michael Chapman raised concerns about a “lack of communication, lack of planning, language barriers” as well as “the NCC’s unfenced proximity to a residential neighborhood and two public schools,” according to the statement.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the sheriff’s concerns. Chapman said he had spoken to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the matter.

The remaining Afghans currently housed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey – the last of the eight sites on military bases – are expected to be resettled in communities around the country in the coming days.

Major milestone

The move away from placing refugees in repurposed military installations marks a major milestone in U.S. President Joe Biden’s evacuation operation launched as the Taliban overran Afghanistan in August.

About 1,200 Afghans were still at the base, commonly known as Fort Dix, as of Tuesday, DHS said. The agency told Reuters that the base will continue housing evacuees awaiting resettlement until the new processing center is set up.

About 80,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States as part of “Operation Allies Welcome” in the largest effort of its kind since the Vietnam War era.

The population passing through bases included applicants to the Special Immigrant Visa program, which is available to Afghans at risk of Taliban retaliation who worked for the U.S. government.

Others were admitted to the United States temporarily via “humanitarian parole” with the option to apply for asylum.

The Biden administration has urged Congress to create a more direct pathway to citizenship for Afghans.

Thousands of vulnerable Afghans are still stranded abroad as the U.S. government evaluates their cases and wrestles with logistical challenges to processing their admission.

Eligible Afghans currently in third countries could be allowed entry through an expedited refugee admission process, Reuters reported earlier this month.

But for Afghans still inside Afghanistan the pathways are limited. As of data from mid-February, the U.S. government had only approved around 170 applications out of 43,000 Afghans who have applied for “humanitarian parole” to come to the United States.

Sparks due to cut of Emcali to Claro that announces compensation to clients - Cali - Colombia

Since 2018, Municipal Companies of Cali (Emcali) Y Clear Telmex collided on one energy bill for 18,999 million pesos for the use of public infrastructure.

On January 18, Emcali applied to cut off the service and Claro announced a partial payment of more than 7,000 million. The measure affected the Internet of private company users.

On Sunday the power was cut off again. Claro made “the payments claimed by Emcali so that Caleños do not run out of Internet, but reserves the right to take any legal and criminal action that gives rise to defend correct Internet access in the city.”

The debt was paid, but no legal differences have been closed.

(Read in context: Debate over the power cut from Emcali to Claro due to a millionaire debt)

The manager of Emcali, Juan Diego Flórez Gonzálezexplained that the measure was due to the breach of the payment agreement that the two entities had established in January 2022.

He assured that “the measure was taken in response to the delaying maneuvers that Claro has been doing since 2018, so as not to catch up with a debt that, in principle, exceeded 18,000 million pesos.”

This is how the disconnection of more than 140 Energy sources that provide the electrical fluid service to the telecommunications company. The official pointed out that an attempt had been made to reconnect the sources of power without authorization, for which a criminal proceeding is open.

(You may be interested: Pilgrimage of the candidates for the Presidency passed through Cali)

Claro qualifies as arbitrary the power disconnect that affected internet service and announced a compensation to their clients affected in Cali equivalent to two days of monthly rent.

“Despite being in the billing reconciliation process, Claro made the payment of the value intended by Emcali to avoid a greater impact on the Internet service. The company demands the immediate restoration of electricity, given that the contract between the parties It is not subject to the system for the provision of residential public services, but rather to those for the sharing of telecommunications infrastructure, so the disconnection carried out was illegal,” says a statement from the firm.

And he notes that “Emcali began the disconnections on Sunday, February 6 in the morning and coincidentally, on the same day, it launched a new campaign for its fiber optic service to the home, an action that should be investigated by the competition authority.”

But Emcali tells him that there is no basis for this and the truth is that there was a debt.

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