The number of Russian soldiers killed in combat since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine remains a secret that the Kremlin goes to great lengths to hide. However, open-source research has recently yielded figures that show Moscow’s losses have been heavy. Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report by Ricardo Marquina.
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Month: May 2024
China’s state media support protests on US campuses but not at home
washington — State media in China, where social protest is strongly discouraged or punished, have been vocally supporting the pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses while decrying what they describe as a heavy-handed crackdown on free speech by authorities.
“Can blindly using violence to suppress students be able to quell domestic dissatisfaction with the government?” wrote Jun Zhengping Studio, a social media account operated by the News Broadcasting Center of the People’s Liberation Army, in an April 26 commentary.
“If American politicians really have a sense of democracy and human rights, they should stop supporting Israel, stop endorsing Israel’s actions, and do more things that are conducive to world peace. Otherwise, the only one who will suffer backlash is the United States itself.”
The People’s Daily, China’s state-owned newspaper, said in a video that American students are protesting because they “can no longer stand the double standards of the United States.”
On social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying echoed that comment and implied the U.S. government was cracking down on protests at home while supporting protests abroad.
She posted a clip of U.S. police arresting protesters with the question, “Remember how U.S. officials reacted when these protests happened elsewhere?”
The protests this month at scores of universities, including New York’s Columbia University and George Washington University in the U.S. capital, have opposed Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza over the large number of civilian casualties. The student protesters are demanding that their schools divest from companies with ties to Israel and are calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the protests are a symbol of American democracy, but he criticized the protesters for remaining silent on the attack by Hamas militants in October that killed more 1,200 Israelis and sparked the conflict.
Critics say antisemitic rhetoric emerged at some of the protests, and there have been clashes with police.
As of Monday, more than 900 students had been arrested, mainly for trespassing because of protest camps they erected on university property.
In an email to all faculty members and students, American University stated that the school’s policy of supporting free speech has not changed, but it explicitly prohibits “disruptive” behavior such as setting up camps.
“Any demonstration that continues to interfere with university operations or violate policies after engagement and de-escalation will not be permitted, and those responsible will face conduct actions, disciplinary sanctions, or arrest as appropriate,” the email said.
Reactions differ
The handling of the protests has been in stark contrast with the Chinese authorities’ crackdown on domestic dissent and any form of street protest.
China’s strict zero-COVID measures and censorship of critical voices during the pandemic spurred street protests in many Chinese cities in November 2022 that became known as the White Paper movement. Protesters would hold up blank sheets of white paper to symbolize support for the protests while not actually saying or doing anything, in hopes of not getting into trouble.
Nonetheless, Chinese police arrested and surveilled those caught holding up white paper. Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye accused “external anti-China forces” of being behind the protests and called them a “color revolution.”
Critics were quick to point out Beijing’s double standard when Chinese state media backed U.S. college protesters.
Sean Haines, a British man who worked for Chinese state media from 2016 to 2019, told VOA that Chinese state media’s extensive coverage of Western demonstrations is a consistent policy.
“At Xinhua, when we chose the running order for news, foreign protests were always promoted,” he said, “especially if it was around election times. ‘Look how scary foreign democracies are, aren’t you glad China doesn’t have this?'”
He said footage of protests is easy to find in places with a free press, such as the United States and the West, while there are almost no images of protests in China, a one-party authoritarian state where public demonstrations are quickly stopped.
“It’s ironic.” he said. “China is using [the] West’s free speech, openness, right to protest — against itself.”
Although Chinese authorities have not declared support for any side in the Israel-Hamas war, they were reluctant to condemn the militants’ October attack and repeatedly blamed Israel and the U.S. for the conflict in Gaza.
At the same time, antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiments, including conspiracy theories, have been allowed on China’s highly censored social media.
A popular claim is that U.S. support for Israel is not because of history and democratic values but because a Jewish cabal secretly controls U.S. politics and business.
Hu Xijin, a special commentator and former editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times, posted on social media site Weibo on April 19 that all walks of life in the U.S. “cannot suppress the protests of college students everywhere, which shows that the Jewish political and business alliance’s control over American public opinion has declined.”
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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China takes steps to expand military training in schools
Taipei, Taiwan — China says it has begun revising its National Defense Education Law, a move analysts say aims to expand military training at universities, high schools and even middle schools. The proposed changes also seek to improve defense education starting with students as young as primary school.
According to state media reports, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress – the country’s rubber stamp legislature – began its first reading of the revisions last week. The changes are also open for public comment until late May, though it is unlikely that a broader debate will be allowed.
While the previous version of the law was a looser guide, the proposed changes say high school students and those at institutions of higher learning should receive basic military training during school. Junior high school students are also allowed to receive military training, according to the revisions.
In addition, the responsibility for military training is put more squarely on central and party authorities, the Ministry of Education and the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission – China’s top national defense body. The revisions also call on local military bases and central authorities to strengthen the direction, oversight and organization of military training for students.
State media have offered some details on the revisions, noting that the changes are for “national defense awareness” for all of society and to help the world’s second-biggest economy adapt to “many new domestic and international changes.” Reports, however, do not elaborate on what that might mean.
Analysts who spoke with VOA’s Mandarin Service see a connection between the proposed changes and the impact China’s economic downturn and global geopolitical tensions are having on the ruling Chinese Communist Party, or CCP.
Timothy Heath, a senior fellow for international defense at the RAND Corp., says the revisions are part of a more systematic approach to national defense education that aims to strengthen Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s authority.
“The attempt to legislate loyalty betrays the reality of declining popular support for the CCP amid a softening economy, worsening real estate market, and persistent corruption and malfeasance,” Heath said in an emailed response. “The law also reflects the CCP’s anxiety over an increasingly unsettled international order in which conflicts appear to be rising.”
Willy Lam, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said that since Xi took over in 2012, he has focused on patriotism and national defense awareness. Last year, China’s Defense Ministry also confirmed an ongoing push to embed militias, known as the “People’s Armed Forces” in Chinese companies and state-owned enterprises.
“This is all aimed at strengthening the public’s preparation for military struggle,” Lam said.
Although it is not clear when the revisions will be passed, the changes follow a string of other national security moves by Beijing over the past year. Those include last year’s passage of revisions to an anti-espionage law, a broad and ongoing public campaign to counter foreign spies and changes to the country’s Patriotic Education Law, which went into effect in January.
Over the past year, U.S. officials have repeatedly noted China’s aim to have the capability to invade Taiwan by 2027. China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as part of its territory. Beijing says unification is the only option for the island of 23 million, and that that must happen, by force, if necessary.
Analysts also say that while the extra emphasis on national defense awareness could feed into already rising nationalist sentiments and feed hostility or prejudice against the outside world, it could also encourage more young Chinese to join the military.
“The law may aim in part to bolster recruitment for the PLA [People’s Liberation Army], which has consistently failed to attract adequate numbers of educated young people, despite high unemployment rates for urban youth,” Heath said.
China’s National Defense Education Law was first passed in 2001 and last modified in 2018.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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