Chinese Netizens to Embattled Syrians: We Support You, Even If Our Government Does Not

With another veto cast by China against a UN resolution aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis, some Chinese netizens are expressing their outrage on Sina Weibo, a microblogging platform. Thursday’s resolution would have used the threat of economic sanctions to pressure the Syrian government into implementing a peace plan that had been accepted months ago and then swept under the rug.

While the efficacy of such a resolution would have been doubtful given the all-out civil war that has broken out across Syria, the recent spate of rebel victories against the regime combined with the threat of sanctions — and, perhaps more importantly, the threat of further action by a unified security council — may have helped to bring the regime back to the bargaining table.

But it was not to be, with Russia joining China to veto the resolution in the UN Security Council. And, like after previous vetoes, many Chinese netizens were unhappy with their government’s defense of the murderous regime:

One netizen, @朱智勇-, tweets, “A Syrian slogan reads: Russians and Chinese, no matter how you try to protect your puppet, you can’t stop us from ridding Syria of these idiots. My opinion: the three vetoes [cast by the government] cannot represent the Chinese people. The Chinese people support your righteous cause; the dawn of Syrian democracy is imminent. Victory will belong to the brave Syrian people.” {{1}}[[1]]叙利亚人标语：俄罗斯和中国，无论你们怎么保护你们的傀儡，都无法阻止我们把你们这些蠢货杀出叙利亚。——微评：三次否决代表了不了中国人民。中国人民支持你们的正义事业，叙利亚民主的黎明即将到来，胜利属于勇敢的叙利亚人。[[1]]

@蓝天白云Vopines from Xi’an: “The concepts of sovereignty and territorial integrity are passé. Human rights are supreme and trump sovereignty. Non-interference with internal affairs does not equal a free pass for dictators to slaughter a country’s people in order to maintain their regime.” {{2}}[[2]]国家主权和领土完整的观念已经过时，人权至上，人权大于主权，不干涉内政不等于放纵独裁者杀戮本国人民，维持强权统治。[[2]]

@cellery_莫名 writes, “The Chinese government doesn’t represent the Chinese people. I hope the Syrian people will understand!” {{3}}[[3]]中国政府不代表中国人民，请叙利亚人民明鉴! [[3]]

@Bill_Xie tweets from overseas: “I’m glad [the news reports] said Russia and China, not Russians and Chinese. Every time when I see Syrian students in Dundas Square collecting signatures I always tell them: ‘I’m Chinese. I support you.’ ” {{4}}[[4]]我很欣慰他们用的Russia和China，没用Russian和Chinese。每次在Dundas Square遇到叙利亚留学生的签名活动，都要说一句：我是中国人，我支持你们。[[4]]

@画大饼的厨子 tweeted a phrase from China’s national anthem: “Arise, those who would not be slaves!” {{5}}[[5]]起来，不愿做奴隶的人们! [[5]] Words penned in the 1930′s by a people fighting to free themselves from foreign invasion by the Empire of Japan were thus transported across time and space to encourage the Syrian people fighting to free themselves from an internal tyranny.