Want China Times, Chen Chia-lun and Staff Reporter 2014-09-02
A number of Chinese military experts have stated that media reports of Russia's deployment of a "mere" 1,000 troops in Ukraine is nothing but "a battle for public opinion," as the limited numbers suggest that it is not an armed military intervention in the country but rather seems to be aimed at training anti-government forces and covertly joining their ranks.
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Ukrainian pro-Russian protesters occupy a government building in Donetsk
Oblast, April 30. (File photo/Xinhua)
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A number of Chinese military experts have stated that media reports of Russia's deployment of a "mere" 1,000 troops in Ukraine is nothing but "a battle for public opinion," as the limited numbers suggest that it is not an armed military intervention in the country but rather seems to be aimed at training anti-government forces and covertly joining their ranks.
The way the
news has been reported has allowed Ukraine to present the image of being in
need of foreign aid to fend off a Russian invasion and, although it will fuel
possible sanctions against Russia, it will also likely boost private
negotiations between Russia and the United States, they said.
Zhou
Yongsheng, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, told our sister
paper Want Daily that Russian soldiers fighting on Ukrainian soil was just one
scrap of information, and that it remains to be seen if Russian troops will
take a more active role in the conflict between the Ukrainian government and
pro-Russian militants.
The 1,000
Russian soldiers deployed to Ukraine is quite a small number, compared with the
6,000 to 7,000 US soldiers who remained in Iraq after the United States
announced the withdrawal of its military troops from that country in 2011, for
example, Zhou stated. He suspects, therefore, that the media in Western
countries has deliberately overblown the deployment of troops, portraying it as
Russia taking military action in Ukraine's civil war, in order to aid Ukraine
in winning international support for its cause.
"[Ukrainian
president Petro] Poroshenko is very clever," Zhou said, adding that
Ukraine knows how to survive among big powers. The way Poroshenko has made use
of the media to win international support is similar to the way the Philippines
dealt with its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea.
Han Xudong,
a professor at China's National Defense University, believes there is an
ongoing power struggle between the United States and Russia behind the
political conflict in Ukraine. As Washington is sparing no effort to get East
European countries to join NATO, Russia has had to adopt measures to secure its
political influence in Ukraine, he added.
Han said he
doubts, however, that the tension between the United States and Russia will
escalate into an out-and-out military conflict over Ukraine, and will likely
just continue to fuel conflicts within the country.
Russia has
denied that its troops are in Ukraine.
.
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