China World
China Responds to Manchester Arena Attack: “Chinese People Stand Firmly with the British People”
As Manchester is waking up to a dark morning following a lethal terrorist attack at the Ariane Grande concert on May 22, news of the explosion has spread on Chinese social media. President Xi Jinping sent condolences to the British queen, saying the Chinese people stand firmly with the British people.
A suicide attack at the Manchester Arena has killed 22 people, leaving another 59 injured. The explosion occurred around 22.30 GMT+1. The attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device and has died. The police is still investigating if there is a larger network behind the attacker, but are treating the blast as a terrorist attack.
Xinhua News reported that President Xi Jinping has sent a condolence message to Queen Elizabeth, expressing deep sorrow to the victims and condolences to the injured and the families of those killed in the incident. He also said “the Chinese people stand firmly with the British people at this difficult time.”
On Weibo, there are thousands of people commenting on the Manchester explosion and sharing their condolences: “For now, we can just grieve over the victims, console the injured, and denounce the attacker,” some said.
“It’s so horrible! I was also at the scene!”, a netizen nicknamed ‘Mary’ (@玛丽莲梦露奥巴马忽忽) wrote: “I am very fortunate to have made it out safely. We heard a loud noise behind us and everyone started running and pushing while screaming and crying. It’s the first time I realized how nearby the danger actually is.”
Comment from netizen who attended the concert.
The young woman also wrote: “I never expected that a night that started so happily attending this concert would end up with a sudden explosion. The police say there are 20 people dead and many injured, and that there were two explosions. The first happened close behind me; I only suddenly heard a loud noise, and then I looked and almost in the same second I saw how people had an expression of sheer panic on their face and began to shout and cry, pushing the crowd forwards.”
News of the attack also led to concerned reactions on safety in Europe, with many saying “Europe is just a mess now.” Similar reactions were made after the attacks in, amongst others, Berlin, Brussels, Nice, Cologne, and Paris.
“Is Europe really this chaotic? Or are local media just picking out this kind of news?”, one confused netizen (@富文佩) wondered.
There are also many commenters asking about the attacker. “He certainly was not of a peaceful religion,” (“肯定不是和平宗教干的”), some said.
“The power of religion is expanding, it is getting bigger and bigger,” one commenter wrote, while there were also people calling “Islam doctrine a tumor in civilization.”
Although there have reports of Islamic State supporters celebrating the Manchester attack online, there have been no official claims made yet.
– By Manya Koetse
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China Media
Slip of the Tongue: Biden Accidentally Says He “Applauds China”
On Weibo, people joke that Biden’s gaffe was a Freudian slip: “He finally said how he really feels about China.”
It was a top headline on Baidu News on Saturday, March 25: while delivering a speech to the Canadian parliament on Friday, U.S. President Biden said he “applauded China for stepping up,” quickly correcting himself and saying he meant to say ‘Canada’ instead of ‘China.’
Biden was giving the speech in Ottowa during a state visit to Canada, during which the U.S. President and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau held bilateral talks discussing various security issues.
In the speech, Biden reaffirmed the strong relations between Canada and the United States.
At the moment of Biden’s gaffe, he said: “So today I applaud China for stepping up,” before correcting himself and making a quick joke: “Excuse me, I applaud Canada. You can tell what I’m thinking…about China. We won’t get into that yet.”
Ahead of the state visit, Trudeau spoke to CNN about U.S.-Canada relations and China, stating that there are areas in which they will “going to have to directly challenge China” on issues such as human rights and security. He said: “We’re going to have to continue to be wide-eyed and clear about the threat that China poses and wants to pose to the stability of our democracies.”
Regarding Biden’s gaffe, Chinese media were quick to jump on it and soon the incident spread on Weibo using various hashtags (“Biden Corrects Himself after Saying He Applauds China” #拜登称为中国鼓掌后改口#; “Biden Accidentally Says He Applauds China” #拜登口误为中国鼓掌#).
Chinese state media outlet Global Times (环球网) posted one of the most popular posts on the matter, which included a video of the moment, receiving over 82,000 likes.
But other big accounts, such as the Communist Youth League, also posted about the moment.
“Even if he dreams, he still thinks of China,” one top comment said, with others replying things such as: “He just can’t keep China out of his mouth.”
Some people also suggested it was a Freudian slip, and that Biden actually said what he was thinking: “Finally he said what he feels!” and “he loves China.”
China’s Communist Youth League also posted a meme about Biden allegedly also saying “US-China relations” instead of “US-Canada relations” during a bilateral meeting in 2021.
At one time in 2022, Biden apparently also mixed up “Ukraine” and “China” during a speech.
By now, Biden’s mix-ups and mistakes have become a regular occurrence, something that was already covered by The New York Times as early as 2019.
One meme on Chinese social media featured Joe Biden and Donald Trump side by side wearing a 1960s PLA uniform, the flag of the Communist Party in the background.
Trump was previously also jokingly called “Comrade Trump” on Chinese social media, saying he was the man “making China great again,” suggesting that his policies and actions inadvertently contributed to China’s rise. For this reason, he was also nicknamed “Build the Country Trump” (川建国) and ‘Comrade Jianguo’ (建国同志 [Comrade Build-Country]).
An older Trump meme, see Twitter thread here.
For a similar reason, Biden is now also nicknamed “Boosting China Biden” (拜振华). Both ‘Build the Country Trump’ and ‘Boosting China Biden’ are written in such ways that they could pass as Chinese names, which is part of the joke.
Some netizens playfully warned Biden and Trump about being careful not to give themselves away: “Please, comrades, be careful about hiding your true identity!”
“Comrade Boost China Biden, thanks for your hard work,” another jokingly wrote.
By Manya Koetse
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©2023 Whatsonweibo. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce our content without permission – you can contact us at info@whatsonweibo.com.
By Manya Koetse
With contributions by Miranda Barnes
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Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us. First-time commenters, please be patient – we will have to manually approve your comment before it appears.
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