"Behind the Ukraine crisis lies the shadow of American hegemony," the People's Daily, which carries the party's official viewpoints, said on page 3 of its March 29 edition. Author "Zhong Sheng"—the Chinese leadership's pen name when expounding on international affairs—continues: "U.S.-led NATO's eastward expansion is the root cause of the Ukraine crisis; the U.S. is the instigator of the Ukraine crisis."
The column is the first in a new series published by the CCP's propaganda department, and the latest front in Beijing's own years-long struggle against the postwar international order led from Washington. While ostensibly about criticizing the "Cold War remnant" that is the North Atlantic Alliance, it's more indicative of what the government wants its domestic audience to perceive about the West in general and America in particular as it lays the narrative groundwork for an intensifying U.S.-China rivalry.
