The Chinese Embassy in Japan posted a sarcastic illustration of the U.S. as the Grim Reaper to Twitter last month, then deleted the tweet. The media reported that Israel asked the embassy to delete the tweet because the illustration depicted the Israeli flag on the scythe of death.
The illustration posted by the Chinese embassy in Japan on April 29 shows the Grim Reaper, dressed in what looks like an American flag and holding a scythe, knocking on the door of “Egypt. When the Grim Reaper passes the room with Iraq, Libya and Syria written on the door, blood flows out of the room. On closer inspection, the scythe had a picture of the Israeli flag on it.
The Chinese embassy and tweeted, “If the U.S. had come with ‘democracy,’ this would have been the result.”
“The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel’s ambassador to Japan, Yaffa Ben-Ari, told the Chinese ambassador on April 30 that the illustration demonized Israel, who said he did not notice the image of Israel in the picture.
Gilad Cohen, deputy director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Asia-Pacific Department, also contacted the Chinese Embassy in Israel to inform them of the tweet.
The tweet was deleted within an hour after Ban Ali and Cohen called the Chinese side, but the Chinese embassy in Japan did not tweet an apology.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported that the Chinese embassy in Japan uploaded the tweet, which was judged to be influenced by a joint congressional speech by President Joe Biden. In the speech, Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping an “authoritarian” and emphasized the superiority of democracy.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also tweeted on April 26 with a parody of a Japanese ukiyo-e painting, satirizing the Japanese government’s decision to discharge “nuclear wastewater” into the sea. The Japanese Foreign Ministry has protested to the Chinese side and requested that the tweet be deleted, but Zhao Lijian was unmoved.
Recent Comments