TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — From the discharge of water from the Fukushima reactor to the COVID-19 outbreak in India, Chinese officials are sharing their opinions loudly and with graphics on social media.
1. Chinese fire vs. Indian fire
(Weibo, 中国长安网 image)
The official Weibo account of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission uploaded two images on May 1, illustrating that China ignited a fire to send a rocket to space while India ignited a fire to burn the mounting corpses of the COVID-19 pandemic. The image was soon deleted after the Embassy of India in China issued a denouncement.
2. China's Huoshenshan Hospital vs. India's Huoshenshan Hospital
(Weibo, 中国警方在线 image)
Another set of ironic images about India's failure to contain the coronavirus outbreak comes from the official Weibo account of the Public Order Administration in China's Ministry of Public Security.
The left image shows the construction of the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, a temporary hospital that accommodated the COVID-19 patients when the epidemic first broke out in the Chinese city. The right image, on the other hand, shows a crematorium in India with the hashtag "India turned a crematorium for dogs into one for humans."
3. 'The Great Radioactive Wave off Kanagawa'
(Twitter, Lijian Zhao image)
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) uploaded an image from a Chinese illustrator who modified the world-famous Ukiyo-e painting of the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa.' The modified image introduces tiny figures dumping radioactive sewage into the ocean.
Although the image drew a severe protest from the Japanese foreign minister, Zhao refused to delete it and even pinned it to the top of his Twitter account. "They [Japanese officials] should listen to the disapproval from the international community about their decision to release the radioactive water into the ocean," Zhao said during a press conference on April 28.
4. The U.S. grim reaper
(Twitter, 中華人民共和国駐日本国大使館 image)
In response to U.S. President Joe Biden's first address to the joint session of Congress, the Embassy of China in Japan uploaded an image to its official Twitter account in which a grim reaper wrapped in the U.S. flag is knocking on a door labeled Egypt. The caption of the image reads, "This is how it looks if the U.S. tries to bring democracy." The embassy later deleted the tweet.
During his speech, Biden mentioned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and other autocrats think democracy cannot compete in the 21st century. He added that the U.S. has to prove them wrong and show that democracy still works.
5. Brutality against American indigenous people
(Twitter, Li Yang image)
The consul general of China's Consulate-General in Rio de Janeiro, Li Yang (李楊), uploaded a couple of images on April 6 with a caption saying, "Talking about human rights, we must say that the U.S. has an unforgiveable original sin: the crazy slaughter of tens of millions North American Indians!!!"
The Chinese diplomat previously drew controversy when he tweeted to accuse Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of ruining the relations between China and Canada while turning the latter into a running dog of the U.S.
"Spendthrift!" he wrote, in a jolting shift of gears, at the end of his tweet.
