{"id":50723,"date":"2022-04-01T12:55:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-01T10:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/?p=50723"},"modified":"2022-04-01T13:00:58","modified_gmt":"2022-04-01T11:00:58","slug":"president-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/2022\/04\/01\/president-who\/","title":{"rendered":"President Who?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the month since Russia invaded his country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appeared in hundreds of news articles across China. In just the past week, his name has appeared in at least 71 articles in papers like Shanghai\u2019s Liberation Daily<\/em> (\u89e3\u653e\u65e5\u62a5), Guangzhou\u2019s Yangcheng Evening News<\/em> (\u7f8a\u57ce\u665a\u62a5), Zhejiang Daily<\/em> (\u6d59\u6c5f\u65e5\u62a5), Beijing Youth Daily<\/em> (\u5317\u4eac\u9752\u5e74\u62a5), and the Chongqing Morning Post<\/em> (\u91cd\u5e86\u665a\u62a5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many cases, these articles have been official releases from the state-run Xinhua News Agency, like a recent story<\/a> published in Hubei\u2019s commercial Chutian Metropolis Daily<\/em> (\u695a\u5929\u90fd\u5e02\u62a5), pictured further below, which reported on peace talks in Turkey. \u201cUkrainian President Zelensky said on [March] 29 that the signals emerging from the new round of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were positive,\u201d the report read. Not reported was what Zelensky said<\/a> immediately after, that these signals \u201cdo not drown out the ruptures of Russian shells.” Nevertheless, Zelensky was there in the text, alongside his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Zelensky\u2019s presence elsewhere in the Chinese media makes it that much more unusual that the Ukrainian president has been missing entirely from the People\u2019s Daily<\/em>, the newspaper that matters most when it comes to conveying the official line of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership. Through the buzz of coverage in China about the \u201cRussia-Ukraine conflict,\u201d the conspicuous absence of Zelensky from the Party\u2019s flagship newspaper is a salient illustration of China\u2019s alignment with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/div>
A March 31 story (sourced from Xinhua) in Hubei\u2019s commercial\u00a0Chutian Metropolis Daily<\/em>\u00a0(\u695a\u5929\u90fd\u5e02\u62a5), mentioning Zelensky in the context of peace negotiations in Turkey. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Zelensky has not been mentioned in the People\u2019s Daily<\/em> through the entire five-week course of the ongoing war in Ukraine. In fact, Zelensky has been mentioned just once in the People\u2019s Daily<\/em> since a July 14 report<\/a> last year noting a call with Xi Jinping in which cooperation in fighting COVID-19 was mentioned but nothing whatsoever about Russia. That one mention<\/a> was on January 5, 2022, when Xi Jinping sent Zelensky a congratulatory message on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Xi spoke of the “healthy and stable development” of relations between China and Ukraine, of “mutual political trust” and “fruitful cooperation in various fields.” But there was no talk, apparently, of Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through November and December 2021, as Russia troops massed along the Ukrainian border \u2013 no Zelensky in the People\u2019s Daily<\/em>. Through January, as Russian troops arrived in Belarus for ostensible \u201cmilitary exercises\u201d \u2013 no Zelensky in the People\u2019s Daily<\/em>. For the whole of February, as military maneuvers intensified in Russia and Belarus, and even as Putin\u2019s \u201cspecial military operation\u201d began in eastern Ukraine \u2013 no Zelensky in the People\u2019s Daily<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Putin, meanwhile, has been frequent and prominent news in the paper, with related mention<\/a> of the \u201cdrastic situation in eastern Ukraine.\u201d On February 26, as tanks were pushing toward Kyiv, Putin was front-page news. A piece next to the newspaper\u2019s masthead reported Putin\u2019s call with Xi Jinping, in which the Russian leader had showered praise on the Beijing Olympic Games (the story\u2019s lede). Xi was quoted further down as reiterating \u201cChina\u2019s respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As recently as March 30, Putin was mentioned in a People\u2019s Daily<\/em> report on the hosting in Beijing of a forum called “China and Russia: Common Development and Modernization” (\u4e2d\u56fd\u4e0e\u4fc4\u7f57\u65af\uff1a\u5171\u540c\u53d1\u5c55\u4e0e\u73b0\u4ee3\u5316<\/a>). Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, gave the opening address at the event, attended by members of Russia\u2019s Duma. Xia said, according to the paper, that \u201chand-in-hand development and common prosperity is the strategic choice and cooperation between China and Russia,\u201d adding: \u201cPresident Xi Jinping and President Putin have repeatedly stressed the need to promote a high level of mutual trust between China and Russia that can be constantly translated into cooperation results in various fields, benefiting the people of both countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through the buzz of coverage in China about the \u201cRussia-Ukraine conflict,\u201d the conspicuous absence of Zelensky from the Party\u2019s flagship newspaper is a salient illustration of China\u2019s alignment with Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":50724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tracking-control"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPresident Who? - China Media Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/chinamediaproject.org\/2022\/04\/01\/president-who\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"President Who? 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