From China’s perspective, NATO enlargement is a big culprit in the war in Ukraine.
Beijing
China announced in early February, along with Russia, its opposition to NATO enlargement. It is therefore interesting to see how China reacts to NATO politicians’ NATO deliberations and possible future decisions.
Opposition to NATO enlargement was linked to a declaration in which Chinese and Russian leaders vowed to cooperate and understand each other’s many goals.
China has also reiterated that it sees the previous enlargement of the United States and NATO as a major cause of war in Ukraine. This is also at the heart of the current message spread by China in its home country.
Over here To date, Finland’s NATO deliberations have not been big news in China.
“The Finnish Prime Minister is calling for quick decisions on NATO membership this spring,” he said Huanqiu Shibao magazine on Sunday.
The story was based on Russian media – Sputnik and Russian Today television news – and was news-like. It said Sanna Marinin from the recent position that a NATO solution – whatever it is – must be made during the spring. The President of the Republic was also present Sauli Niinistö reflections. The article also shed light on the fact that the majority of Finns now support membership.
Other comments Finland’s NATO membership had been selected from Russian sources in a way that opposed or appeared to oppose membership. For example, the Russian Foreign Ministry comments that if Finland joins NATO, it will have serious military and political consequences.
The story was also in early March opinion Minister of Defense From Antti Kaikkonen. He said at the time that the time for applying for membership was not “right now” when the discussions had just started in Finland.
In Huanqiu Shibao, tightly affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, the statement seemed steeper than Kaikkonen’s original message.
At least the Chinese Guancha.cn, which presents the issue of foreign newspapers, had made a story about Marin’s statement.
These the two stories had garnered a total of about 500 comments under their social media shares by Monday morning, which is not much in Chinese.
The picture combo comments on Huanqiu Shibao’s magazine and Guancha.cn’s talk about Finland’s NATO discussion. Translations are attached.
1. Hit it. Taking Helsinki takes an hour and 22 minutes. Šuigu wins again.
2. The claim to a neutral country is a joke aimed at children.
3. Nuclear warning.
4. Everyone wants to be a U.S. colony.
5. Time for another special operation?
6. Support for the Russian war is equivalent to Finland, because Finland does not distinguish good from evil. Let’s remove its military forces.
7. The NATO Military Alliance is a product of the Cold War. It shouldn’t be there anymore.
8. NATO has more and more members and the burden is greater when small countries want to become members. Now at NATO, everyone except the US, Britain, France and Germany are just a burden and cannon fodder.
9. Respect the decisions of the Finnish people! Under no circumstances should you interfere in Finland’s internal affairs!
The majority of the comments followed China’s line quite calmly, namely that NATO enlargement is not good.
China is not talking about war, but about Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. The comments therefore warned Finland of both the Russian attack and the nuclear weapons.
Very few had the opposite comments, but there were also a couple of them: “Respect the decisions of the Finnish people! Under no circumstances should you interfere in Finland’s internal affairs! ”
Social media is heavily censored and controlled in China, so it is not possible to draw very strong conclusions about the mind movements of citizens. Instead, it is better to deduce from them what kind of debate is allowed on the subject in China.
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