TOKYO, November 30. /TASS/. Nearly 40% of Chinese citizens consider the Russian special military operation in Ukraine as an act of self-defense in response to NATO's eastward expansion, according to the results of a survey conducted by Japanese Genron NPO and China International Communication Group (CICG) among its residents.
According to the poll, 39.5% of Chinese respondents believe the Russian operation to be "an act of self-defense against the backdrop of NATO's eastward expansion." Another 29% slammed Moscow's actions as ‘wrong’, but urged that the circumstances pointed out by the Russian side must be taken into account.
Only 21% of Chinese respondents said that Russia's actions "contradict international law and should be opposed."
This point of view was also supported by 73% of Japanese respondents. The option mentioning the need to take into account Moscow's position was chosen by over 10% of those polled, and only about 1% stated that Russia acted within the framework of the right of self-defense.
The poll was conducted from July to September of this year. Some 1,000 people were polled in Japan and 1,528 respondents shared their opinion in ten major Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine following a request for assistance from the leaders of the Donbass republics. After that, the US, the EU, the UK, as well as a number of other countries imposed sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities. In addition, Western countries began to persistently supply arms and military equipment to Kiev worth billions of dollars.