"Cut Ties with Putin Quickly," Chinese Political Scientist Deletes Post on SNS

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on the 15th that an article by a prominent Chinese political scientist, who argued that China should sever ties with Vladimir Putin's Russia as soon as possible, was deleted from local social networking services (SNS).

According to the report, Hu Wei, a political scientist who is the vice chairman of the Shanghai Public Policy Research Institute under the State Council Secretariat and a professor at the Shanghai Communist Party Central Party School, published an article titled "The Russia-Ukraine War and China's Possible Outcomes" on the Chinese version of the "US-China Perception Monitor" (USCNPM), an online publication by the US Carter Center, on the 5th.

In the article, Professor Hu stated, "China should not maintain relations with Putin and must sever ties as soon as possible," adding, "In the current international situation, China should choose the lesser of two evils, shed the burden of Russia, and protect its best interests." He further emphasized, "Currently, China still has about one to two weeks to maneuver," and "China must act decisively."

Professor Hu warned that after the war, the leadership of the United States in the Western world would be solidified, and if China does not distance itself from Russia, it will become more isolated from the world. He also predicted that Putin's surprise attack on Ukraine would fail and that Russia would pay a heavy price politically, economically, and diplomatically.

The article recorded over 100,000 views, and the English translation was published on the 12th. However, it was suddenly deleted from USCNPM's Chinese social media WeChat account, and it disappeared from other WeChat accounts that had reposted the article. WeChat stated that the article violated its regulations.

Earlier last month, five prominent Chinese historians issued a statement on WeChat criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an "unjust war," but it was deleted within two hours after receiving criticism from pro-Russian netizens.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.