Taiwan Takes Aim At Xi Jinping With Winnie the Pooh Patch – The hottest trend this week in the island nation of Taiwan is a patch now worn by aviators that directly mocks Chinese President Xi Jinping, as tensions have escalated between the island and mainland China. The patch shows a Formosan black bear, native to the self-governing island, holding the Taiwanese flag while punching the iconic animated character Winnie the Pooh.
Two versions of the non-official “morale patch” have been produced. One with a red background boldly announces “We Are Open 24/7” in English, while the other with a blue background proclaims “Fight For Freedom.” Both feature the word, “Scramble” at the bottom.
Power to the Pooh
The iron-on patches are now being worn by some of Taiwan’s air force pilots as a very direct and defiant message to China’s Xi, who is often satirized for resembling the honey-loving cartoon bear.
Though images of Winnie the Pooh aren’t officially illegal, since July 2017, the Chinese government has censored imagery of the anthropomorphic teddy bear, notably the Disney version of the character.
The censorship results from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary being compared to the character in several Internet memes. Beijing has seen this as a disrespectful mockery of the nation’s leader.
The first reported use of the character from the works of A.A. Milne in such a meme can be traced back to Xi’s 2013 visit to the United States, during which time the Chinese leader was photographed walking alongside with then-President Barack Obama. A blog post juxtaposed Winnie the Pooh walking with Tigger – and that could have been the end of it.
However, when Xi met Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a short time later, the Japanese leader was compared to Eeyore, while Xi was contrasted with Pooh.
For the record, neither Obama nor Shinzo seemed all that displeased with the comparisons.
But then, in 2015, an image trended on social media that showed Xi during a parade standing in the sunroof of a limousine compared to a toy car with Winnie the Pooh in a similar pose. The rest, as they say, is history. China doesn’t want its leader to be mocked, and Xi reportedly hates being compared to the cartoon character.
As a result, anything related to Winnie the Pooh has been banned in China, while it also continues to be a symbol of anti-Chinese resistance. In 2019, when Chinese-based Tencent made an investment in Reddit – the American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website – the cartoon bear went viral with thousands of posts.
Message to China and Xi
Taiwan’s defiance via the wearing of such patches is all the more noteworthy now.
According to Reuters, Alec Hsu, who designed the patch, has been selling it at his shop since last year.
Sales have suddenly spiked after Taiwan’s military news agency published a photo of the patch on the arm of a pilot inspecting a fighter jet over the weekend.
“I wanted to boost the morale of our troops through designing this patch,” Hsu, who owns Wings Fan Goods Shop, told the news wire service.
It was on Monday that China concluded its three days of military drills around Taiwan, which Beijing maintains is a breakaway province that will be returned to mainland control by force if necessary.
However, if the CCP expected to win a propaganda victory, it was mistaken. This round certainly goes to the Taiwanese Black Bear beating down Winnie the Pooh!
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Author Experience and Expertise:
A Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.
