GZERO World Clips

Contradictions in coverage: Chinese media & the Ukraine war

Contradictions in Coverage: Chinese Media & The Ukraine War | GZERO World

Many Chinese media outlets have “an outstanding capability to maintain a state of denial, to say things that are clearly not true” — but not all have spread propaganda about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, says Melinda Liu, Newsweek's bureau chief in Beijing.

State-run media are trying to show some of what's going on in Ukraine, and (part of) Chinese social media is showing sympathy for Ukrainians, Liu tells Ian Bremmer in a GZERO World interview. Still, much of the focus remains on Russian casualties.

As a result of different media “tonalities,” Liu explains that outlets are contradicting themselves.

Chinese coverage of the war hasn’t been consistent, and neither is China’s historical relationships with Ukraine and Russia.

Watch the GZERO World episode: China’s discontent & the Russia distraction

More For You

Donald Trump as a giant hitting Venezuela with a stick.
GZERO design

2026 is a tipping point year. The biggest source of global instability won’t be China, Russia, Iran, or the ~60 conflicts burning across the planet – the most since World War II. It will be the United States.

- YouTube

Europe enters 2026 under mounting strain as it confronts external threats, internal political pressures, and a weakening relationship with the United States. In GZERO’s 2026 Top Risks livestream, Mujtaba Rahman, Managing Director for Europe at Eurasia Group, describes a continent that is “exhausted, fatigued, weak, and vulnerable.”