Guardian investigation: Chinese in Ukraine’s trenches searching for meaning

In a highly unusual scene of the Ukrainian war, a small group of Chinese volunteers chose to fight alongside the Ukrainian army, defying their government and public opinion in their country, at great personal and political risk.

Investigating the news, the British newspaper The Guardian follows the stories of some of the fighters, led by Tim and Fan, who left China with a deep sense of helplessness and alienation, in search of a new meaning in life and a cause in which they saw more than the boundaries of fear and geographical belonging.

Tim, 43, spent a year bouncing between China and Ukraine until he was convinced the latter was a “bright future” for him, but the Russian attack on a children’s hospital forced him to make the final decision to join the Ukrainian army.

Drone Engineer

Today, Tim works as an aircraft engineer in the south of the country and says he saw joining the army as a way to embrace his humanity and redefine his belonging outside of China’s borders.

Before coming to Ukraine, Tim experienced long-term unemployment in China and was frustrated by the blocking of political freedoms there. He followed the war through a “VPN” app and called the official media in his country “lie detectors”.

Tim spoke to the Guardian about the situation in China, saying: “Fifteen years ago you could see problems, talk about them freely and find someone to discuss them with you. But now that’s impossible.” He added: “I don’t read news on Chinese websites at all because they are all fake.”

On the other hand, there is another volunteer named “Fan” (only his last name was mentioned in the newspaper to protect his identity), who also left China in search of a way out of a reality that seemed hopeless.

Tim, 43, sees joining the Ukrainian army as a way to reclaim his humanity and redefine himself outside of China’s borders.

Disillusioned ex-businessman

A journalistic investigation indicates that Fan (39) is a former businessman who embodies an economically and politically disillusioned generation within China. He lost his projects during the Covid-19 pandemic and accumulated huge debts before deciding to join the ranks of the Ukrainians.

Fan was not a political activist, but he was fed up with the climate of repression and the arrest of bloggers simply for expressing dissent. “I have never had a voice in my life and I don’t want my child to grow up in an environment where people’s voices are not heard,” she says.

Fan does not yet know how he will bring his family to Ukraine, but the Guardian says he realizes that returning to China could be dangerous. “Chinese law does not expressly prohibit joining foreign troops unless it is against national security,” but many fear retaliation. Another Chinese fighter, known by his moniker de guerre Bronco, said his family had been questioned about him by China’s national security police.

A rare Chinese piece

Tim’s and Fan’s testimony reveals a rare segment of China that sympathizes with Ukraine, despite the near-total dominance of pro-Russian propaganda in Chinese media.

A study by Tao Wang, an academic at Manchester Metropolitan University, found that 80% of Chinese supported Russia in the first year of the war, adding that “the official media managed to sway public opinion in favor of Moscow”.

However, there is a “significant part of the Chinese population that sympathizes with Ukraine, but is largely invisible,” as expressing such positions is “considered deviating from the norm,” as academic Tao put it.

On the other hand, reports show that thousands of foreign fighters are fighting in Ukraine, including about 8,000 in the ground forces alone, and some of them are paid up to $3,000 a month in dangerous missions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that there are about 150 Chinese, a relatively large number, fighting alongside Russia motivated by money.

The newspaper ends its report with the words of volunteer Tim, where he said that his stay in Ukraine serves several purposes, “The first is to build a new life for me and my family in Europe. Second, I want the world to know that there are good people and positive ideas in China.