We’ve all watched ‘Winnie the Pooh’ as children – the slow-witted, extremely cute and honey-craving fictional bear character. Some characters are not momentary. Winnie the Pooh is one of them. While characters like Pooh are meant for entertaining children, for some inexplicable reason, the Chinese Premier, Xi Jinping cannot stand the cute bear. Acting on the same paranoia, perhaps, US Secretary of State, who is a committed anti-China crusader has taken the internet by storm, all with one tweet.
Mike Pompeo, on Wednesday, tweeted a picture of his dog, named Mercer, ready to pounce upon all her favourite toys. While there are about four other toys which can be seen in the picture, one which figures most prominently, is a soft toy of Winnie the Pooh.
Mercer and all of her favorite toys! 🐶 pic.twitter.com/bGal0ui6E2
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) July 15, 2020
Asked in an interview Wednesday whether this was “Winnie the Pooh-gate,” Pompeo appeared oblivious. “No, I imagine there were a series of stuffed animals, and they were equally distributed for Mercer’s benefit,” Pompeo told Iowa conservative radio host Simon Conway. Further probed on whether the picture has some deep underlying meaning, as the BBC had insinuated, Pompeo laughed and said, “I hadn’t seen that.”
Netizens, however, are convinced that Pompeo has taken a sly dig at Xi Jinping, for the Chinese Premier bears an uncanny resemblance to Winnie the Pooh. With the tweet, if at all Pompeo wanted to send a message to China, rest assured, the same has been delivered lock, stock and barrel. The message? That Xi Jinping is a soft toy, slow witted while at it, and is loved to be played with by Pompeo’s dog.
Pooh is not happy pic.twitter.com/iKGRpMDrDc
— 小白鼠先生😷 (@shiroihamusan) July 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/kikiy2020/status/1283203022361780224?s=20
Lol 😂
Wow look at Winnie the Pooh pic.twitter.com/ZD5g5xpNIc— H2O (@H2Ohowareyou) July 15, 2020
Xi Jinping’s relationship to Winnie the Pooh dates back to 2013, when, on a state visit to the US, the Chinese Premier was captured in a photo alongside Barack Obama, and the said picture bore a striking resemblance to a scene from the cartoon show, showing Pooh walking alongside his tall friend, Tigger. The next year, a photo of Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave the internet a field day, for its striking resemblance to another scene from Winnie the Pooh. The following year, a toy car comparison had the world in splits.
All said, Xi Jinping shares a rather mysterious relationship with Winnie the Pooh, one which he does not like. As a result, while any other world leader would laugh such comparisons off and take them to be good fun, Xi Jinping waged a war against Winnie the Pooh. Cartoons, soft toys, merchandise relating to Winnie the Pooh are banned in China. The Chinese internet is censored, and all Winnie the Pooh references stand removed.
Despite such heavy censorship, the world refuses to forget the relationship of Xi Jinping with Winnie the Pooh. With this tweet, Pompeo has perhaps given a message to China that in the present global scenario, the US is toying with China. Pooh has become a nickname for Jinping, and Mike Pompeo has trolled the man perhaps like never before.
