President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had captured two Chinese men fighting on Russia’s side in eastern Ukraine, potentially threatening a fragile peace effort in the three-year-old war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had captured two Chinese men fighting on Russia’s side in eastern Ukraine, potentially threatening a fragile peace effort in the three-year-old war.
If that is the case (meaning they are not PLA active duty,) it is not functionally different than the Americans and other nationalities who volunteer for Ukraine.
Obviously (to me, at least) the Chinese and the orcs are on the wrong side of history, but regardless this isnt really “new news” at all. It has been effectively a global war since the first month of this phase of the conflict (started more like 2014 or arguably much earlier.) Call it WW3 or not, all the major players are involved one way or another. I guess it differs primarily in the scope of their involvement.
I would characterize China as “wanting to be on both sides of history”.
Most notably, China hasn’t condemned Putin’s invasion, only speaking of the conflict as a problem like it has no clear initiator. Xi has met with Putin and hasn’t used his influence to stop Putin, instead reaffirming their previous cooperation. On that background a statement of support to Ukraine’s territorial integrity looks like empty words.
Also, China has kept buying Russian fuels, which keeps Putin afloat. (It should be noted that other countries, even European countries, make the same mistake, but they’ve been making efforts to get off the Russian tap, while China has not.)
But they sell electronics and communication systems to both sides. Drones made of Chinese parts fight both on the Ukrainian and Russian side. And their army weapons haven’t been seen in Russian hands.
I agree that China is on the side of China.
My sentence was poorly worded. I was referring specifically to “the chinese” who were in Ukraine fighting for Russia. I would have written China if i meant the nation.