American hedge fund manager Kyle Bass announced on Sunday that he had made new t-shirts for the Chinese Ambassador and the Chinese Embassy in the United States. In the t-shirt, China was marked as ‘West Taiwan’.
Amazing new t-shirts made for @AmbCuiTiankai and the Chinese embassy USA 🇺🇸! @ChinaDailyUSA @PDChina @HuXijin_GT Funniest caption wins a shirt! #Taiwan #ChinaIsWestTaiwan #China pic.twitter.com/cYryHcpPAA
— 🇺🇸Kyle Bass🇺🇸 (@Jkylebass) June 20, 2021
The ‘West Taiwan’ t-shirt did manage to attract the attention of Hu Xijin, the Editor-in-Chief of the Global Times, who had been tagged in Bass’ tweet. He made a weak attempt at a joke, dubbing the USA ‘East Taiwan’.
And the US is EAST TAIWAN. https://t.co/8QA2KujAUO
— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) June 20, 2021
The t-shirt, however, did find quite a few other takers.
Done.
— 🇺🇸Kyle Bass🇺🇸 (@Jkylebass) June 20, 2021
where can we get one? I want several
— juan aguirre (@juanagu89122117) June 20, 2021
However, in his enthusiasm to mock China, Kyle Bass ended up showing Indian territory as part of China. The t-shirt shows Ladakh as part of ‘West Taiwan’ and includes Tibet in the same as well.
Kashmir & Ladakh is the integral part of india.
— Amit Dhankhar (@Ch_AmitDhankhar) June 20, 2021
I challenge no one can divide it. https://t.co/4yAp4FjA4B
The t-shirt earned the businessman a lot of criticism as well. Someone called him an ‘attention seeking drama queen’.
Attention seeking drama Queen 🤣 https://t.co/P9kLLVJyZJ
— tillingfolk 众生 (@tillingfolk) June 20, 2021
Another account, apparently Chinese, said it was ‘humiliating’ which made him/her suffer ‘second hand embarrassment’.
this is so over the top humiliating i'm getting second hand embarassment just looking at this https://t.co/Ss1xu0c5U5
— 白石夫人💕🍒大錯特錯不要來🍋侮辱我的美🧜♀️ (@mitasuyou) June 20, 2021
While mocking China is indeed commendable, it is perhaps better to do a little research before engaging in such antics. Otherwise, a person runs the risk of committing goof-ups, as the person did by including Indian territory in China, thus, appearing to bolster Chinese claims.
China has long claimed that Taiwan is a part of itself and has prevented other countries from recognizing the latter as a separate country. The Chinese Communist Party is quite touchy about the matter and reacts quite disproportionately whenever someone calls Taiwan a country.
