Chinese reporters and bloggers covering Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories are often granted exclusive, privileged access by Russian troops and promote Kremlin narratives, according to a study by Realna Hazeta, an outlet relocated from Luhansk, titled “China and Ukraine’s Occupied Territories of Ukraine in Mutual Media Coverage”.
The researchers identified several major categories of Chinese content creators and their mechanisms of distributing manipulative content.
According to data by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Lu Yuguang, head of the Moscow bureau of the Chinese TV channel Phoenix TV, has open access to the vanguard positions of Russian troops in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts thanks to his close ties with Russian security services. The journalist portrays Ukrainian prisoners of war in a light favourable to Russia while completely omitting the systemic torture and human rights abuses they face in Russian custody from his coverage.
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Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, visited occupied Crimea in September 2022 and met with the occupation administration. In his material for the Chinese outlet Guancha.cn, he justified the annexation of the peninsula through the sham 2014 referendum. The Chinese academic’s trip was framed by more than 160 Russian media outlets as “proof of interest and support from foreign experts.”
Chinese blogger and reporter Zhu Haozhen, who has lived in Donetsk since 2023, was a consistent contributor to the Russian state-affiliated news agency Sputnik; Chinese-language commercial platforms (such as Bole News) later reprinted his stories. Besides parroting Russia’s allegations against the UAF, Zhu Haozhen’s articles glorified PRC citizens (including Zhao Rui, Li Dafu, and Pan Lin) who fought against Ukraine in the ranks of Russian armed formations, presenting their involvement as “fighting fascism.”
The study’s authors pointed out a significant difference in the war coverage:
- official PRC media (Xinhua, CCTV) mostly stuck to restrained battlefield reports, citing statements from both sides or by diplomats;
- covert and commercial networks (Sputnik reprints on Sohu, NetEase, etc.) amplified propaganda claims about “terrorism,” “neo-Nazism,” and “support for the occupation among the local population.”
Realna Hazeta stressed that despite claims by such Chinese figures being widely used by Russian propaganda, they could not be regarded as Beijing’s official stance, as the government has not legally recognised the occupation of Ukrainian land.