Ukraine's portrayal of Russian invasion just PR: Chinese 'experts'

Want China Times, Chen Chia-lun and Staff Reporter 2014-09-02

Ukrainian pro-Russian protesters occupy a government building in Donetsk

Oblast, April 30. (File photo/Xinhua)

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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