mandag 3. mai 2021

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

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.