In what he said showed the friendship of the country in “difficult” timesun Russian-run online store on Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com thanked Chinese buyers for their support after selling out of plus items including chocolate and fabric softener.
the online showcase of the “Russian State Pavilion” storewhich says it is approved by the Russian Embassy in China, displays several sales-out panels on products ranging from KDV candies with chocolate wafers.
“Dear Chinese friends, thank you for ton support to Russia and the Russian state pavilion in these difficult times,” said a man identifying himself as Sergey Batsev, a representative of a nonprofit organization organization Business Russia in a short video posted to the online store.
“We see the friendship of chinese old friends under this complicated and constantly evolving international situation.”
Local media reported that the video was posted on Wednesday and the shop had seen a sudden increase in followersfrom less than 100,000 on Wednesday morning at over one million by Thursday afternoon.
the storecustomer service declined to answer other questions. JD.com did not immediately respond to questions sent by Reuters.
China refused to condemn Russia attack on Ukraine or call I tan invasion and called several times for a negotiated solution. Chinese social media users overwhelmingly favored Russia’s position in the dispute, with many blame NATO expansion.
In Alibaba’s Taobao marketplace, another popular e-commerce platform, some buyers of Russian chocolates left comments saying they had made their purchase in support of Russia.
“Huzzah, Huzzah, Huzzah! Russia, add oil!” said one, using a popular Chinese expression of encouragement. “(I hope people will buy more russian products, supporting Russia is the same as supporting ourselves.”
Although not as common, there were also offline signs of peoplethe views of on the war. On Wednesday a billboard was hung outside the wall of the canadian embassy in Beijing, which said “We are with Ukraine” was disfigured with a message in Red paint critical of NATO.
The Canadian Embassy referred a question to Ottawa, which did not immediately respond. The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But there was also some online shows of support for Ukrainian products. A customer of Chocolate made by the Ukrainian confectionery Roshen, left a comment urging support for Ukraine. “Ukrainians will win!”
