printThe Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Disscussions in China’s Internet Space
Li Menglong
PhD, Lecturer, Jilin University, Changchun, China limenglong@jlu.edu.cn
Han Muyan
Master student, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China S2021227001@ucass.edu.cn
Abdyrahmanova Humay
PhD student, Zhengzhou university, Zhengzhou, China 3545132309@qq.com
This work is part of the research project “Evidence based governance research on the risk of pan-politicization of network public opinion in the digital intelligence era” (Project No. 23CZZ045), funded by the National Social Science Foundation Youth Project (China) in 2023–2026.
Li Menglong, Han Muyan, Abdyrahmanova Humay The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Disscussions in China’s Internet Space. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2024. No 2. P. 122-129
The Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in 2022 has not changed the good development momentum of China-Russia relations. However, discussions about a large-scale confrontation between the West and Russia over Ukraine have also appeared in Chinese society. The choice between pro-Russia or pro-Ukraine positions has become a matter of debate. This article analyzes how Chinese Internet users react to news reports about the Russia-Ukraine conflict on two main video platforms – Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) and Bilibili (Chinese video hosting similar to YouTube), which are the most popular in modern Chinese cyberspace. The number of views, likes and comments under popular videos on the topic of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is analyzed, and their thematic analysis is carried out. The conclusion is that since Chinese people generally support Russia as China’s strategic ally, pro-Russia views related to the Ukraine incident are absolutely dominant in China’s Internet space. Although there are also pro-Ukraine comments in online comments, they account for a small proportion.
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