A Chinese Communist Party-linked account mocked India's Covid crisis on social media.

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Hong Kong (CNN)For most of China, last week's launch of the first module of its planned space station was simply a moment of pride. But for one social media account linked to the ruling Communist Party, it was a crass opportunity to mock India's Covid-19 tragedy. 

On the micro-blogging platform Weibo, the account posted a photo of the Chinese Long March-5B carrier rocket blasting off, alongside a picture of cremation pyres burning at night in India under the watch of people in hazmat suits.

"China lighting a fire versus India lighting a fire," the caption read, accompanied by a hashtag declaring that India's Covid-19 cases had surged past 400,000 a day. 

The account that posted the photos is linked to the Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, a powerful organ of the ruling Communist Party, overseeing the country's courts and law enforcement bodies. Several other government accounts run by the police and local courts shared the pictures.

Though nationalist sentiment against India has been running high in recent months due to border disputes, many Chinese social media users were shocked. "I can't believe this was posted by a government account. Why do you need to use the suffering of others to highlight national pride?" read one top comment underneath the post.

"How can this be approved (by censors)? It's a complete disrespect of human life," read another.

 

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[8pm]

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[reality]

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[Truth_Holds]

While the message initially went viral, it prompted widespread outrage on Chinese social media for its insensitivity, leading the Party-linked account to take the unusual step of deleting the post.

 

Dong Mengyu, a researcher, said on Twitter one blogger wrote an article in response saying, “I apologise to Indian people on my own behalf. The post by the [Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission’s] Weibo account doesn’t represent me. We live on the same planet... We feel your sufferings.” That essay, Mr. Dong said, was later deleted.

 

The original post, reported Manya Koetse of What’s on Weibo, a website that tracks social media trends in China, was shared 9,000 times before it was deleted. It was not the only such post from an official organ mocking India’s situation — another Weibo account linked to the Ministry of Public Security, the top police authority, shared a similar message.

Inappropriate comparison

Both posts prompted widespread derision, at a time when several Chinese social organisations have begun fundraising efforts to channel assistance towards India, including some prominent Buddhist organisations.

One widely followed social media account maintained by lawyer Wang Peng, Ms. Koetse reported, posted a response describing the message as “such an inappropriate comparison”. “Every country encounters disasters! Not to mention that in times of the pandemic, every country is involved,” he was quoted as saying. “From the propaganda point of view this is a classic case of propaganda failure,” added another. “This is so inappropriate for an official account, it does not represent the people of China.”

[Simple123]

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