Thread by @WilliamYang120

"Inside #China, the war in #Ukraine 'has ignited enormous disagreements, setting supporters and opponents at polar extremes,' Mr. Hu wrote. His own stance was clear: 'China should not be yoked to Putin and must sever itself from him as soon as it can.'" nytimes.com/2022/03/18/wor…

"Some readers praised Mr. Hu’s article, which spread online last week, seeing its gloomy prognosis about China becoming isolated behind a new Iron Curtain of hostility from Western countries as ...

... a welcome challenge to official Chinese soft-pedaling of President Vladimir V. Putin’s aggression. Many others denounced him as a stooge of Washington, unduly critical of Russia’s war aims and prospects."

"Mr. Hu’s article has been the most striking instance of rising opposition to Russia’s assault on an independent neighbor, and rebukes of Beijing for its reluctance to criticize Moscow."

"Chinese authorities blocked the website of U.S.-China Perception Monitor, where his article first appeared, and tried to censor it on social media."

"Yet despite the risks, some citizens have been voicing criticisms — in quips on social media ridiculing Mr. Putin and his nationalist devotees in China; in scathing online comments responding to official statements;...

... and in essays laying out the moral, political and economic costs of the war not just for Russia, but for its partner, China."

“We have never had any commentary that attracted so much attention,” said Yawei Liu, the editor of the U.S.-China Perception Monitor, referring to Mr. Hu’s article.

"The Chinese version of the article attracted 300,000 views on the Monitor’s website, and millions more from being shared on Chinese social media, Mr. Liu said in a telephone interview from Atlanta, where the online journal is based."

“There is overwhelming support for the China-Russia partnership, and overwhelming support for Putin’s war against Ukraine,” he said of Chinese opinion. “But the political, academic and economic elite are different. There is this real worry.”

"Chinese critics of the war include academics with a foothold in the political establishment, like Mr. Hu, who are usually shielded from the worst pressure. He is a professor in Shanghai’s school for Communist Party officials, ...

... and a vice president of a public policy center under the State Council, the Chinese cabinet of government ministers."

"In recent days, Chinese officials warned many among some 130 alumni of Chinese universities who had signed a petition against the war, said Lu Nan, a retired businessman in New York who helped organize the campaign."

"“Every single one was taken for tea,” Mr. Lu said in a telephone interview, using a common euphemism referring to being questioned by the police.

"Still, critics continue to speak out, suggesting that a significant minority is so alarmed by the war that they are willing to defy the censors. Despite the censorship, plenty of dissenting views have been kept alive by readers on social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat."

"Other Chinese opponents of the war are near its frontline. Some Chinese residents in Ukraine are trying to break through the censorship back home to give their compatriots an unvarnished chronicle of life under fighting."

"Wang Jixian, one of the most popular of these video chroniclers, posts regular dispatches from his apartment or the streets in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa, where he lives.

His posts often start with air raid sirens, a howling reminder of how the attacks put civilians’ lives in danger."

“I tell them I didn’t start this war, and if you feel it’s a righteous cause, why not come here?” Mr. Wang said in a telephone interview from his apartment. “Why don’t you just come on over and give your life for Putin?”

"But Zhao Rui, another Chinese video blogger in Ukraine, said opinion in China appeared hard to shift. Many Chinese people see Russia as a robust ally against what they say is American efforts to contain China’s rise."

“China has always treated Ukraine as a failure, a reject,” Mr. Zhao said in a telephone interview. “Even now, the great majority still strongly supports Putin.”

Of half a million comments on Ukraine over the past two months on Weibo, a Chinese social media service, about half blamed the war on Ukraine, the United States or “the West” in general, according to research by @jenjpan.

"That critical minority in China, though, includes academics and professionals whose views carry more weight. Opposition from the elite may eventually seep into government policy deliberations, ...

... encouraging Beijing to shift away from Mr. Putin, especially if Russia’s assault suffers more setbacks."

“When I talk to Chinese scholars, they are very critical of Putin, they’re critical of Russia, they’re critical of the invasion,” said Paul Haenle, a former director for China on the National Security Council in both the Bush and Obama administrations.

Five historians issued an open letter denouncing the war. Lu Xiaoyu, an international relations professor at Peking University, wrote online that Russia’s war was “imperialist expansionism, not national self-defense.”

“The situation now is not a Cold War, but it may be even more dangerous than one,” Ms. Jin wrote in a recent essay about Russia. “The world order may again divide into two camps over its stance on Russia.”