The Same Evil in Different Frames: a Comparative Analysis of the Narratives About the West Between Russian Disinformation Targeting Ukraine and Chinese Disinformation Targeting Taiwan

This paper conducts a comparative analysis between Russian disinformation directed at Ukraine and Chinese disinformation directed at Taiwan, regarding their strategic narratives about the West. These activities aim at stopping the respective country’s rapprochement with the Western alliance system and surrender themselves to the imperialistic ambitions of their respective authoritarian neighbours. The analysis is based on interviews with Taiwanese experts and the study of the experts of the Ukrainian think-tank Detektor Media (Riaboshtan, Pivtorak, Bilousenko, 2022). While Chinese propaganda may not explicitly employ the “decaying West” trope, a common feature of Russian propaganda targeting Ukraine, it nonetheless shares a similar underlying message: the West as a warmonger that profits from chaos.