Washington Post Publishes Chinese Ambassador’s Propaganda on Ukraine

China’s ambassador to the United States Qin Gang speaks at a media briefing. | (Elizabet
Elizabeth Dalziel/AP Photo
John Hayward

The Washington Post on Tuesday published an op-ed by Qin Gang, China’s ambassador to the United States, that pushed a heavy Chinese propaganda line defending China’s refusal to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Washington Post’s decision to give editorial space to a mouthpiece for the hostile regime in Beijing was reminiscent of the New York Times publishing an op-ed from Taliban leader and FBI Most Wanted terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani in February 2020 – an editorial choice the Washington Post was somewhat critical of at the time, or at least willing to reprint stern criticism from other sources.

Chinese state media trumpeted the Washington Post running Qin’s editorial as a signal of American concession to China’s refutation of “rumors and disinformation spread by some U.S. politicians,” as the Chinese Communist Global Times put it on Wednesday.

In the op-ed, Qin insisted “assertions hat China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported this war are purely disinformation.”

“All these claims serve only the purpose of shifting blame to and slinging mud at China,” he huffed.

Qin was responding to reports that Moscow gave Beijing advance warning of the Ukraine invasion, most provocatively an intelligence report allegedly leaked by U.S. and European officials in early March that said China asked Russia to delay the invasion until the Beijing Winter Olympics were concluded.

Many international observers have pointed to the close relationship between Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, arguing it was simply inconceivable that Putin would launch an attack guaranteed to disrupt the entire world without informing his only great-power ally in advance. Putin sent troops into eastern Ukraine the day after the Olympics ended.

It is also a matter of documented fact that U.S. and European officials pleaded for help from China to help contain the imperial ambitions of its junior partner Russia, and were rebuffed at every turn, so many refuse to believe Qin’s claim that the first Russian shots fired across the Ukrainian border were a shock to Beijing.

Qin offered absolutely no evidence or reasoned argument that the Western intel reports about China’s heads-up were incorrect, instead simply insisting that China’s peace-loving foreign policy has no room for aggressive wars of conquest.

“Conflict between Russia and Ukraine does no good for China. Had China known about the imminent crisis, we would have tried our best to prevent it,” he wrote, parroting a line delivered monotonously by Chinese officials since the invasion began, and China refused to denounce it.

“As a staunch champion of justice, China decides its position on the basis of the merits of the issue,” Qin declared, a line that would surely inspire guffaws in China’s concentration camps and slave labor mills, if any of the surviving inmates retained their sense of humor after years of captivity.

Qin warned that sanctions threats against Chinese businesses for their support of Russia’s illegal war were “unacceptable,” an apparent reference to American warnings that China will face “consequences” if it helps Russia evade punitive sanctions.

Qin was incensed by comparisons between the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s looming threat to invade Taiwan – but he responded by saying the only real difference is that China can legally invade Taiwan any time it wishes, and it will be no one’s business if it does:

Some people are linking Taiwan and Ukraine to play up the risks of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. This is a mistake. These are totally different things. Ukraine is a sovereign state, while Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory. The Taiwan question is a Chinese internal affair. It does not make sense for people to emphasize the principle of sovereignty on Ukraine while hurting China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity on Taiwan.

Qin risibly claimed China is making “huge efforts to push for peace talks and the prevention of a humanitarian crisis” – when in fact China is currently screaming curses at the Taiwanese for making Beijing look bad by swiftly assembling and shipping massive aid shipments to Ukraine.

Last week, the Chinese Communists expected applause for announcing they would send $790,000 in humanitarian supplies to Ukraine; tiny Taiwan’s government has already donated $15 million to Ukrainian refugees, bolstered by millions more in private donations, and the goods are actually showing up in Ukraine with remarkable speed. China is sending out Communist drones to jabber about six-point outlines of humanitarian principles while Taiwan is putting food in hungry mouths.

The most remarkable thing about Qin’s propaganda piece is that nowhere in its dusty gallery of talking points and white-paper blather does he come anywhere near condemning the Russian invasion or demanding Putin halt his merciless attacks on Ukrainian civilians. He began by writing that he wanted to help American readers “understand where China stands as the crisis in Ukraine unfolds.” The only noteworthy thing about his editorial is what he didn’t say.

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