From the point of view of Poland, the cooperation in propaganda between China and Russia is disturbing, according to Żaryn.
Tomasz Gzell/PAP

For many weeks now, Chinese propaganda has been following a storyline that fits in well with the Russian disinformation campaign that is being carried out against Poland, a Polish information security official has said.

Stanisław Żaryn, who is the government commissioner for information security, wrote on social media on Wednesday that the propaganda campaigns of Beijing and Moscow were authoring more and more biased stories against Poland.

According to recent Chinese rhetoric, Poland is a country that poses a threat to other countries, is aggressive and is arming itself to pursue imperial ambitions, the Polish security official pointed out.

“The efforts of Poland, as suggested by Chinese propaganda, are aimed at Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and even other NATO countries,” Żaryn wrote. “Beijing also falsely argues that Poles are present en masse on the warfront in Ukraine and are pushing for a prolongation and expansion of the war.

“The Chinese message in this thread is identical to the Russian one,” he continued, as “Russia argues that the activities of the Polish authorities are aimed at Poland’s neighbours and allies.”

In his opinion, the Chinese messages also strongly emphasise an alleged hostility between Poland and Ukraine.

“The efforts of Chinese propaganda intend to stimulate resentment between Warsaw and Kyiv,” he wrote. “In May, Chinese propaganda argued that ‘Warsaw is turning away from Kyiv.'”

From the point of view of Poland, the cooperation in propaganda between China and Russia is disturbing, according to Żaryn.

“In the light of the joint Russian-Chinese activity, the recently visible expansion of China’s propaganda capabilities should be seen and interpreted in Poland as a threat to the security of Poland.”

Although not directly supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Beijing has never openly criticised the aggression and reduced its message to calls for negotiations