#Chinese #speakers #Taiwanese #restaurant #tweet #sparked #mockery #internet
A senior spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry has sparked a storm of ridicule online after a late-night tweet in which she used restaurant listings to back Beijing’s claim on Taiwan.
“Baidu maps show that Taipei has 38 dumpling restaurants in Shandong and 67 noodle restaurants in Shanxi,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying posted on the social media site late Sunday.
“Tastes don’t cheat. #Taiwan has always been a part of China. The long-lost child will eventually return home,” she added.
Hua’s tweet comes at the end of a week of tensions across the Taiwan Strait, as Beijing fumed over a trip by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island, which China considers part of its territory.
The Chinese government has responded to Pelosi’s trip by canceling a series of talks and cooperation agreements with Washington and deploying warplanes, warships and ballistic missiles around democratic, self-governing Taiwan.
Hua’s tweet on Sunday seemed to backfire as thousands of users on Twitter – a site banned in China and only accessible via special VPN software – flocked to poke holes in the top official’s logic.
“There are over 100 ramen restaurants in Taipei, so Taiwan is definitely part of Japan,” wrote a Twitter user going by the name “Marco Chu” in Hua’s replies.
“Google Maps shows that there are 17 McDonalds, 18 KFCs, 19 Burger Kings and 19 Starbucks in Beijing. Palates don’t cheat. #China has always been a part of America. The long-lost child will eventually return home,” Twitter user @plasticreceiver wrote in a parody of Hua’s tweet.
Others jokingly wondered if Hua’s logic meant Beijing could lay claim to territories far beyond the Asia-Pacific region.
“There are 29 dumpling houses in the Los Angeles area, not to mention 89 noodle restaurants,” wrote a person tweeting under the name “Terry Adams.”
“By Hua’s logic, LA has always been a part of China.”
Sunday’s tweet is far from the first time Beijing’s diplomats have raised eyebrows with the use of social media banned by their own government.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has frequently circulated conspiracy theories on Twitter, including the idea that the US military may have brought Covid-19 to China.
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