ANI
05 Aug 2022, 09:25 GMT+10
Beijing [China], August 4 (ANI): Following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's controversial visit to Taiwan on Tuesday, Chinese social media users mocked the government for not living up to its tough rhetoric and also taking military action to stop Pelosi's Taiwan trip.
Several users have claimed publically that they were disappointed by Beijing's lame response and how there was no military action in the Taiwan Strait when Pelosi's plane was touching down in Taiwan late Tuesday night.
People's Liberation Army is a waste of taxpayers' money, said the social media users.
Many people complained that they felt let down and lied to by the government. "Don't put on a show of power if you don't have the power," wrote a Weibo user shortly after the flight's landing, lambasting the government.
In fact, some users compared the People's Liberation Army to the Chinese men's soccer team, a laughing stock in the country because it has qualified for the World Cup only once. They sneered at the announcement that the P.L.A. would conduct military exercises near Taiwan. "Save some gas," said one WeChat user. "It's very expensive now," responded another, New York Times reported.
However, on Wednesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, Hua Chunying, responded to a question about the public's disappointment by saying that she believed the Chinese people had confidence in their country and their government.
The unification of Taiwan, a self-ruling democracy that Beijing considers part of its territory, with the mainland is a centerpiece of Chinese nationalism.
This problem has become progressively larger under Xi Jinping, as nationalist appeals have moved from the margins to the centre of the Chinese propaganda apparatus across the board.
The online backlash has already shown what importance Chinese government holds in the eyes of its community.
Most Chinese didn't pay very much attention to Pelosi's pending Taiwan visit until Monday afternoon, when a flurry of official and semiofficial statements led many to believe that China could take tough, possibly military actions to deter it.
Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesperson who may be China's best-known "wolf warrior" diplomat, warned the United States on Monday that the P.L.A. would "never sit idly by. China will definitely take resolute and strong countermeasures to defend its own sovereignty and territorial integrity," New York Times reported.
The angst of Chinese social media users skyrocketed so much that some of them even argued that only online warmongers should be sent to the frontlines. (ANI)Get a daily dose of Santa Barbara Post news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Santa Barbara Post.
More InformationWASHINGTON, DC - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he believed God was behind his election loss in 2020, even though he has...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Passenger numbers at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey have dropped sharply, according to...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: New single-family home sales in the U.S. rose sharply in April to their highest level in over three years as builders...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: A Florida mother, Megan Garcia, is suing Google and AI startup Character.AI, claiming their chatbot played a role...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The U.S. Army plans to change the records of transgender soldiers to list only their sex at birth, according to a...
MINNETONKA, Minnesota: UnitedHealth shares took a sharp hit this week, after a report by the UK's Guardian alleged the healthcare giant...
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he believed God was behind his election loss in 2020, even though he has...
NEW YORK CITY, New York: Passenger numbers at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey have dropped sharply, according to...
BRUSSELS, Belgium: European Union antitrust regulators are examining fees imposed by payment giants Visa and Mastercard, Bloomberg...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The U.S. Army plans to change the records of transgender soldiers to list only their sex at birth, according to a...
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said this week that it will require airlines to reduce the number of flights...
GAZA - The home of a doctor working in the emergency room at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza was struck by Israel Air...