If Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking for approval for his invasion of Ukraine, he need look no further than the Chinese Internet. While the world overwhelmingly condemns Russia’s assault, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been pushing for an alternative reality with pro-Russia, pro-Putin, pro-war propaganda on its social media platforms.
However, a group of Chinese dissidents is revealing to the world Beijing’s zealous support of Russia. Naming its social media campaign the Great Translation movement, the anonymous members created a Twitter account to collect messages containing pro-Russia sentiment from state-run China Central Television, Sina Weibo and WeChat, among others, and offer translations in languages including English, Japanese and Korean.