China Is Joining Russia’s Shadow War on Europe
China Is Joining Russia’s Shadow War on Europe
www.bloomberg.com
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
58 comments
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This is in the wrong tense, they've been doing it already
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Yep. The very first week of the invasion made it clear in Chinese social media and before that it was crystal clear from a political standpoint. Xi really needs Putin to win this if he wants to invade his neighbors anytime soon. Their goals align too much here.
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China is in a win-win-win situation. If Russia loses, China wins. Likewise when Ukraine/Europe loses. And a weakened US also just plays into their hands. They are nobody's friends but everbody's potential ally.
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China is in a win-win-win situation
Unless Russia crumbles and their belt and road initiative fails.
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The most recent European External Action Service (EEAS) Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) Threats, published in May 2025, says that
while Russian and Chinese operations differ in structure and emphasis, their efforts increasingly converge in both tactics and objectives. While some experts note the cooperation between these two actors has been largely opportunistic, the EEAS report’s network analysis reveals deeper functional convergence. Russian and Chinese FIMI ecosystems increasingly synchronise narratives, especially around major geopolitical events, such as the 1000-day mark of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine – when both states blamed NATO and the West for escalating the conflict. Their media outlets and diplomatic accounts regularly amplify each other’s content, forming digital bridges that help spread anti-Western narratives across regions like Africa, Latin America and the Balkans.
Both nations have also aligned their strategies in deploying disinformation campaigns intended to fracture social cohesion and undermine democratic institutions. China's expansive "Spamouflage" campaign, known for impersonating human rights organisations to spread anti-Western narratives, parallels Russia’s extensive use of state-sponsored media and digital platforms to amplify divisive content and discredit Western foreign policies.
Emphasis mine.
The entire report makes an illuminating read. It includes case studies on Russian campaigns in Moldova and Africa and one operation originating from China, illustrating how FIMI networks tailor their strategies to geopolitical shifts and local contexts.
Download: 3rd EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Threats (pdf)
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When China's Xi Jinping visited Russia in May 2025, he -once again- threatened Taiwan. According to Chinese state-controlled media outlet South China Morning Post, for example, Xi Jinping thanked Moscow for supporting Taiwan’s reunification with mainland China.
In a signed article in Russia’s state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper ... [Xi Jinping wrote that Taiwan's] unification [with China] must be upheld as part of the post-war international order ... Celebrating the “enduring friendship” between Moscow and Beijing, he said the two countries had supported each other since World War II ...
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Beijing is also driving wedges in the transatlantic community by cultivating poorer countries in southeastern Europe that sometimes have illiberal governments.
Poorer countries do not just exist in southeastern Europe, they are made. When you are mistreated and exploited by the west for so long who wouldn't prefer the alternative.
It is a shit alternative, but I see the appeal, and I see the stance on China and Russia change around me as we speak.
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This is an overly simplified narrative imo. It is true that autocracies like China and Russia are using (also) legitimate critique - but not to improve the system but to exploit them for their own ends.
The 'appeal' is, therefore, a false one, if and when it even exists. Foreign malign influence -disinformation and misinformation campaigns, arson, cyber attacks, and other acts of sabotage - wouldn't even be necessary if people in poorer states in Europe and elsewhere would deliberately prefer China and Russia as an alternative. But people simply don't.
I personally think that people know well that their future lies in democracies and the often cited rule of law, which is why dictatorships spend billions for campaigns, and use coercion, intimidation, repression to pursue the dictators' - not the people's - benefit.
Moldova is a good recent example where foreign influence has failed, Taiwan is another one not long ago. It's everything but sure, as we all know, that the future is as bright. Europe and other free nations must urgently develop a tougher stance against these malign tactics imo.
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I do agree that it's a false hope, but I do not agree that people don't prefer it. There are plenty of pro-russian parties here and people like them, they like the idea of change. It is misguided and basically stupid but....
About pro-china there aren't as much political movements, but the sentiment is swaying. China is giving people jobs here by building factories and is also giving them cheap goods.
And you may say that the polling numbers are still pro-west but that is because the turnout is abysmal is the whole region.
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58 comments
Is it, though ?
https://www.telepolis.de/features/China-geht-gegen-Schattenflotte-vor-10729606.html