Taiwan combats the escalation of tensions with China with humor. The self-ruled island’s air force has fashioned an unofficial badge showing a Formosan black bear, a native species, punching in the face the children’s story character Winnie the Pooh, often used to mock Xi Jinping.
While the Asian giant carried out important military maneuvers for three days around the island, the Taiwan Ministry of Defense released the image of one of its pilots inspecting a fighter and wearing the patch on his uniform, which has been interpreted as a challenge to the Chinese president, who, much to his regret, is associated with the famous fat, honey-loving bear because of his physical resemblance. And that has brought Chinese censors headlong since the endearing British character was banished from the country’s social networks in 2017.
The picture, which has caused a furor on the internet, shows how the black bear, an endangered animal and a symbol of Taiwanese identity, punches the harmless Winnie with one paw while holding a Taiwan flag with the other under the motto ” Struggle!” and “We are open 24/7â€, referring to the efforts of Taiwanese pilots who, with increasing frequency in the last three years, are forced to fly over their air identification zone when China sends its planes as a show of force. .
The latest example of this was last weekend: Beijing simulated attacks and the blockade of the island in retaliation for the meeting last Wednesday in California between the Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing Wen, and the speaker of the US House of Representatives. USA, Kevin McCarthy. China thus repeated the tactic of the military maneuvers around Taiwan that it carried out last August, when the then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taipei. At that time, Winnie was not the mistreated animal, but a panda, a Chinese national symbol, by a Taiwanese pilot.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has on occasion hinted at taking it by force. President Xi made “reunification” with the island a priority of his third term last month. The Tsai government rejects its neighbor’s claims to sovereignty, saying only the people of Taiwan can decide their future.
The new patch has actually been sold since last year, says its designer, Alec Hsu, but has seen an exponential increase in orders after a photo of the Taiwanese pilot posted last Saturday went viral. “I wanted to increase the morale of our troops with this design,” Hsu, owner of Wings Fan Goods, told Reuters. He has been forced to replace the product, which he sells for about 6 euros, after running out of stock. More than 2,000 units have been sold on the Ruten e-commerce platform.
The furor has spread through social networks. From citizens on foot to official organizations have manifested themselves in this regard. “Where can we get a patch like that? It will be a guaranteed top seller!” wrote the de facto embassy of Taiwan in the United States on Twitter.
Chinese authorities have been persecuting the yellow bear for years. It all started in 2013, when Xi was making his first visit to the United States as head of state and there, walking with his then American counterpart, Barack Obama, a meme of both began to go viral, comparing them to Winnie the Pooh and his inseparable friend. Tiger. The handshake a year later with the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, aka Igor the donkey, also became famous. And the most censored image of 2015, according to political analysis firm Global Risk Insights, turned out to be another comparison: Xi reviewing Chinese troops was Winnie riding a toy car.
Censorship has come to cross borders. During Xi’s visit to Madrid in 2018, the police went so far as to hide the man disguised as Winnie who frequented Plaza del Sol so as not to offend the Chinese president.
