Spy mission, rogue soldier or a warning to the West?

Images of a Chinese man in uniform in Ukraine raise as many questions as they answer in this shadowy war

- MICHAEL SHERIDAN

The Chinese prisoner has a fearful expression as his Ukrainian captors train a video camera on him. He speaks in Mandarin, the common language of his homeland. His green uniform is like any regular soldier’s. But is it proof that China is fighting alongside the Russian army?

This is a hybrid war and while China has not disputed the facts, the boundaries of truth are cloaked in deniability. The incident – astutely publicised by Ukraine just as America is in a trade showdown with China – has illuminated the shadows of a very modern conflict.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said his troops captured two Chinese citizens after a skirmish in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. They found identity documents, bank cards and other evidence of their nationality. In most armies that would be a severe security lapse.

Zelensky said his men engaged with a unit of six Chinese combatants. The fate of the other four was not mentioned. Andriy Kovalenko, a member of the National Security and Defence Council, called the captured fighters “mercenaries” but gave no more information.

One explanation is that the men are simply soldiers of fortune who caught a plane to Russia to escape boredom and penury at home. Just days ago, the correspondent of Le Monde in China, the highly experienced Harold Thibault, published an interview with a 37-year-old truck driver named “Fen” who went to seek adventure until he was wounded by a drone.