One of the emerging delusions about the Russian invasion of Ukraine is that the Chinese government is waiting to step in and help resolve the issue, to provide its client Vladimir Putin an “off-ramp.” There are so many problems with this school of thought that it’s hard to know where to begin. But it helps to realize that one of the more consistent purveyors of the thesis is the Chinese Communist Party government in Beijing. That might sound hopeful, but PRC actions thus far have signaled zero inclination to try to end the conflict. That hasn’t stopped the PRC disinformation machine from shifting into full vigor on the point, realizing that an eager Western press is always on tap to repeat its propaganda.
In an opinion piece in the Washington Post on March 15, Qing Gang, PRC ambassador to the United States, wrote that he wanted to “dispel any misunderstandings and rumors” about Beijing and the war. He started with the claim that any “assertions that China knew about, acquiesced to or tacitly supported this war are purely disinformation.” This from the government that has said the Covid-19 virus originated in U.S. biolabs and that the PRC has had fewer confirmed cases overall (125,000) than Washington, D.C. (134,000), just to pick two current whoppers. Tread lightly with PRC statements of “fact.”
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