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The Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris has found itself at the centre of a controversy for not displaying the national flag of the People's Republic of China (PRC).  Screenshot from Douyin, 张教官的有趣人生 _________ The incident began when a Chinese influencer, known for his Douyin channel "Instructor Zhang's Interesting Life" (张教官的有趣人生), posted a video on social media accusing the hotel of not displaying the PRC flag among the flags of the countries participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Douyin is a popular short-video platform in the PRC, launched in September 2016 by ByteDance. Its international counterpart is TikTok.  Zhang discovered that the lobby of the Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris was adorned with flags of various countries, except for the PRC’s five-star red flag. Zhang and his crew uploaded a video in which they pleaded with hotel staff to hang the flag, even offering to give them one themselves. But the front desk refused. They claimed that they needed the perm...

On August 11, the 2024 Paris Olympics wrapped up with the final medal count showing a tie between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) . Both teams finished the competition with 40 gold medals, but the US took the overall lead with 126 medals, leaving the PRC trailing with 91. However, PRC cyber-nationalists are not ready to accept this outcome. They insist that China actually won 44 gold medals! As the Olympics drew to a close on Sunday, PRC state media outlet CCTV News took to the micro-blogging platform Weibo to announce the results of the games:  “China is tied for first place in the gold medal list,” CCTV wrote. “Today, all the competitions in Paris have concluded. The Chinese delegation has won 40 gold medals, 27 silver medals and 24 bronze medals—an outstanding performance! Share this proudly, remember this glorious moment, and pay tribute to the Chinese athletes! #IAmProudOfTheChineseTeam.” But Chinese cyber-nationalists aka “little pinks” (小粉红) woul...

“The use of force is an option that mainland China has always maintained (使用武力是中国大陆始终保持的一个选项),” wrote in a recent op-ed Hu Xijin (胡锡进) about Beijing's plans to annex Taiwan. Hu Xijin is the former editor-in-chief of the Global Times , a nationalistic tabloid owned by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).   " Taipei Skyline 2022.06.29 " by 毛貓大少爺 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 . Hu wrote that the use of force is “the fundamental pillar for the advancement of the peaceful reunification route,” calling it “the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces” (使用武力是中国大陆始终保持的一个选项，它也是和平统一路线得以推进的根本支撑，是悬在“台独”势力头顶的达摩克利斯之剑). “Let us support the People's Liberation Army,” he continued, “and various preparations for the military struggle in the Taiwan Strait, while maintaining a stable and calm collective attitude and continuously enhancing cohesion around major national decisions. Taiwan cannot escape, and reunification will e...

The government of Taiwan (Republic of China, ROC) has severed diplomatic relations with the Republic of Nauru following the Pacific island’s announcement on Monday that it would switch diplomatic ties to the People's Republic of China (PRC).   Nauru President Russ Kun meeting Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in November 2022. Official Photo by Makoto Lin / Office of the President Nauru's decision came just two days after Taiwan's democratic elections which saw the victory of Democratic Progressive Party candidate Lai Ch’ing-te (賴清德) as President. The PRC claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to “reunify” with it, even by force. Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released the following statement : “Our government has learned that the government of our Pacific friend, the Republic of Nauru, will sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on the grounds of United Nations Resolution 2758 and the ‘One-China Principle’. “In order to safeguard nation...

A Hong Kong photographer has been convicted of insulting the national anthem of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and faces up to three years in prison. The 27-year-old Cheng Wing-chun (鄭榮進) appeared before Magistrate Minnie Wat Lai Man at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Wednesday (July 5). He was found guilty of insulting the PRC national anthem "March of the Volunteers" after he replaced it with the protest song "Glory to Hong Kong" in a video he uploaded online. Baycrest - Wikipedia user - CC-BY-SA-2.5 He is the first person to be convicted under the National Anthem Ordinance . Enacted in June 2020, the law makes “insulting” or “misusing” the PRC national anthem punishable by a fine of up to HK$50,000 (US$6,400) and a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment. Cheng was prosecuted after he allegedly created and uploaded a video of Hong Kong fencer Edgar Cheung winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in July 2021, with the protest song "Glor...

Xi Jinping (AI-generated image) ______ On June 20, US President Joe Biden called People's Republic of China (PRC) leader Xi Jinping a “dictator” during a speech at a fundraiser in California.  Referring to the PRC spy balloon shot down on February 4 of this year, Biden said that Xi Jinping "got very upset" because "he didn’t know it was there", adding that it is "a great embarrassment for dictators" when they don't know that something as important as this has happened.  PRC foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Biden’s comments were "extremely absurd" and a "political provocation" which "seriously violated China’s political dignity". The US ambassador to the PRC was reportedly reprimanded over the comments. Several media organisations immediately rushed to give voice to Beijing's complaints about that characterisation.  "Biden calling Xi a dictator is his latest ad-lib to anger a foreign capital,...