On an official visit to Hungary, the Chinese dictator encountered protestors who were dressed in the flag of the Republic of China and Winnie the Pooh costumes (“Hungarians protest Xi’s visit by wearing Taiwan flag, playing Pooh,” Taiwan News, May 10, 2024).
Some people waved or wore Taiwanese flags, played the Taiwan national flag anthem loudly, and dressed up as Winnie the Pooh….
Xi then met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, with the primary topics of discussion being Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and infrastructure projects. Under Orbán’s leadership, Hungary has become China’s significant trading and investment partner in Europe as he has blocked EU motions condemning China’s human rights abuses.
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said on Facebook that day: “Winnie the Pooh visited Piglet in the castle today.”
The comparison is unfortunate for the fictional entities. But everybody knows that the symbolism is not about an analogy of character, that Pooh and Piglet are decent sorts of fellows, the opposite of tyrant Xi and friend-of-tyrant Orbán.
In 2017, not long after the A.A. Milne character gained ascendency in Chinese social media as a means of taking a jab at Xi, thought to be encumbered by a Pooh-like plumpness, the regime’s censors began working to put a stop to the indignity. Inside China, at least, they have probably had a fair amount of success, managing to scrub a trillion or so of the trillion-plus instances of Winnie the Pooh images dipping into various honey pots around the web.
If you’re outside of China, you have a better chance in many countries of tweaking the dictator with Pooh manifestations without being censored or detained. The anti-Xi, anti-CCP protesters in Hungary exploited this fact. And it seems that they did not have to deal with the kind of violent, CCP-directed counterprotesting that opponents of the Xi regime had to contend with during Xi’s trip last year to San Francisco.
Also see:
The Independent: “Congressional group demands probe into Beijing’s role in violence against protesters on US soil”
PJ Media: “Why Is Hungary’s Orban Boasting of ‘Cooperation’ With the Genocidal CCP?”
