In one report, a caption referring to Russia with the words “Ukrainians staged a good show” flashes over intensely blurry footage from the Ukrainian city. There is no evidence that this is the case. Satellite imagery suggests some bodies have been there since at least March 18, with eyewitnesses saying the massacre began weeks ago. Separately, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that the shocking images from Buha showed “all the signs” that civilians were “immediately targeted and killed immediately.” On Tuesday, UN chief Antonio Guterres added to growing international calls for a war crimes investigation into the killing of civilians in the city. War crimes allegations raise concerns about China’s position. Beijing’s apparent support for Russian propaganda has been consistent with its stance since the beginning of the invasion, as it has refused to condemn Russia – either internally or diplomatically – even as the death toll rises. Instead, Beijing has sought to portray itself as a neutral factor, calling for peace while blaming the situation in the United States. This appeared in an article published in the nationalist tabloid Global Times on Wednesday, which seemed to challenge the truth of what he called, in quotation marks, the “Bucha incident” and absolved Russia of responsibility. “It is unfortunate that after the revelation of the Bucharest incident, the United States, the instigators of the crisis in Ukraine, showed no signs of calling for peace and promoting talks, but is ready to escalate Russia-Ukraine tensions.” said the editorial. “No matter how the ‘Boutsa incident’ happened, no one can deny at least one thing: the war itself is the main culprit of the humanitarian catastrophe,” he added.
A common enemy
Rising tensions with the United States have pushed Moscow and Beijing closer in recent years, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping saying their countries’ partnership had no “limit” a few weeks before the Russian invasion.
Since the Russian invasion, Beijing has come under increasing pressure to condemn Russia’s actions and to involve countries around the world in imposing sanctions. Instead, Chinese officials have refused to use the term invasion to describe Russia’s actions and have repeatedly said they will cut their own way when it comes time to respond.
At a special UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun acknowledged that the images of civilian deaths in Bucha were “deeply disturbing”, but when it came to taking responsibility for the situation, he urged “all sides” to ” show restraint “. and avoid baseless accusations. “
“The relevant circumstances and the specific causes of the incident should be verified and ascertained. Any allegations should be based on facts,” Zhang said.
Similar comments were made in a regular briefing on Wednesday by Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, who said “humanitarian issues should not be politicized.”
“All parties should show restraint and avoid baseless allegations” before the finding is made, Wang said, adding that China “is willing to continue to work with the international community to prevent any harm to civilians.”
But at home, China is sending a stronger message, a message linked to a longer history of Russian and Chinese state media that reinforce each other’s narratives – on issues such as the treatment of Russian dissidents, pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong and the origins of Covid-19 – as they try to refute the characterizations of Western officials and the media.
In an example of such a cover-up on Tuesday, state news agency China News Service posted a post on the popular Twitter-like social networking platform Weibo, “Russia shows video to prove Bucha incident set up” citing a report by Russian state news agency.
However, even when China reinforces Russian rhetoric in its domestic reporting, some public displays of skepticism can be seen, even on China’s extremely restrained social media platforms.
In a recent example, a widely circulated military blogger wrote on Sunday that Ukrainians were responsible for a “slaughter” of civilians – but many users in the comments below suggested that the details of the post were incorrect.
