China's reaction to Ukraine could be putting its citizens in danger
A citizen watches a news report on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine at an appliance store in Hangzhou, China.
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(CNN)Chinese citizens in Ukraine find themselves in a tense situation as plans for an evacuation from the war-torn country -- set in motion weeks after Western nations urged their citizens to leave -- have stalled, leaving those who remain wary about potential backlash over China's reaction to the Russian invasion.
A plan for charter flights to evacuate citizens out of Ukraine was put on hold over the weekend as fighting in the country intensified, with China's top envoy in Kyiv saying late Saturday that citizens now needed to "wait until it's safe to go."
"There
are missiles in the air, explosions and guns on the ground, and the two
armies are fighting each other...How is it possible to ensure safety
(to leave) in such circumstances?" Ambassador Fan Xianrong said in a
video posted to the embassy's social media account on Saturday, three
days after the Embassy released plans for evacuate flights.
Shock and disbelief brings odd silence as women and children seek refuge in Poland 03:01
Some
6,000 Chinese citizens are in Ukraine, according to China's state
media. Unlike nationals from many other countries, they did not receive
instructions to leave the country before the invasion began, as Chinese
officials pushed back on warnings from the US and its allies that a Russian attack was imminent.
But
now, some of those who remain or who live permanently in the country
have voiced concerns about their safety -- and not only due to the
intensifying conflict.
Beijing, which has fostered increasingly close ties with Moscow,
has so far refused to condemn Russia outright, or describe its actions
as an invasion. China's state media has also adopted a pro-Russian
viewpoint in its domestic coverage, while online posts in support of
Ukraine and its President have been censored.
Meanwhile,
there has been an outpouring of pro-Russian sentiment, as well as
misogyny against Ukrainian women, on China's highly restricted and
censored social media, where nationalist voices typically dominate.
Such
"disgusting comments" were later picked up by Ukrainian media,
furthering suspicions of the Chinese community, according to Sun Guang, a
Chinese vlogger who has lived in Ukraine for two decades and raised his
family there with his wife, who is Ukrainian.
"As
soon as they see me as a Chinese face, they think I'm here to sabotage
or support Russia," Sun told CNN, noting he was stopped and questioned
by several residents when he went to buy groceries earlier that day.
"I
don't think the current situation in Ukraine is safe for Chinese," he
said, while calling on people online back in China to show greater
empathy. "Ukraine is suffering from war, and people are dying every
day," he added.
A
young man who described himself as a student in Ukraine also said in a
social media post on Saturday that he and his friends were afraid to
identify themselves as Chinese.
"In
air-raid shelters & subways in Kyiv, people query Chinese students
if they (agree with those comments online), making many students afraid
to stay in the subway," he said.
"I also want to apologize to Ukrainians, especially Ukrainian women," he said.
China's
Twitter-like social media platform Weibo did take action -- saying on
Friday it removed 542 comments from 74 accounts for writing
inappropriate remarks.
China's
Embassy has also walked back advice issued Thursday encouraging
citizens to display Chinese flags on their cars for protection. On
Friday, a statement on safety practices instead told Chinese citizens
not to "identify yourself or display identifying signs."
In
his video address on Saturday, Fan, the ambassador, urged Chinese
citizens in Ukraine not to "get into arguments with the locals" or "film
out of curiosity." He also struck a personal tone calling on Chinese
citizens to "understand (Ukrainians') feelings" and saying in plain
language: "We respect Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and
territorial integrity."
Experts
say that China's decisions around plans for evacuation and changing
recommendations may have been based on misplaced assessments about
Russia's agenda or miscalculations about how serious an invasion would
be -- or how quickly it would be over.
China
pushed back, as late as February 18 -- less than a week before Russian
forces moved in from multiple directions -- on US intelligence that an
invasion could be imminent, amid denials from Moscow that it intended to
invade.
"At
that point, China may have felt it had the moral duty or obligation to
provide political support to Russia...and discredit a Western
'information campaign' against Russia," said Li Mingjiang, an associate
professor and Provost's Chair in International Relations at Nanyang
Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
in Singapore, who noted that this all played out on the heels of a
meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
"In
that context, it would be very difficult for the Chinese authorities to
seriously prepare and do anything for an evacuation of Chinese
nationals in Ukraine, otherwise China's words and actions wouldn't
match," he said, adding Beijing may not have believed the invasion was
imminent.
In
response to a question about whether it has waited too long to urge
citizens to leave, China's Foreign Ministry on Monday said that it had
"issued relevant safety warnings in a timely manner" and that the
ministry and Embassy in Ukraine were "working day and night" to
safeguard citizens.
As
for whether the evacuation would continue, spokesperson Wang Wenbin
said China was "working out all feasible plans to assist Chinese
citizens in Ukraine with voluntary and safe evacuation" but the current
security situation was "extremely unstable."
Alfred
Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore's
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said China's response may be due
to an "underestimation" of the situation -- as well as the determination
of Western support for Ukraine and the capacity of Ukraine's forces.
"They
mostly thought the war would end in a very, very short period of time,
maybe less than one week...and (Chinese citizens) would be protected
under Russia's (new) regime," said Wu.
But now, there is a realization that "the war has two sides," he said.
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