US' Pompeo trolling China's Xi Jinping by posting pic of his dog with Winnie the Pooh?

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday tweeted a photograph of his dog Mercer with “all her favourite toys”, including a stuffed Winnie the Pooh. At what looked just a normal photograph posted by Pompeo on his personal Twitter account, many social media users started thinking that he was taking an indirect jibe at Chinese President Xi Jinping.

'Mercer and all of her favorite toys!'

In China, social media users have frequently used the jolly bear as a meme for President Xi Jinping, although Beijing's thorough censors don't find it funny. Winnie the Pooh is a common derogatory nickname for Xi. According to media reports, the meme originated after pictures of President Xi Jinping alongside former US president Barack Obama, who drew comparisons to Winnie's friend Tigger, were published.

Beijing in 2018 also rejected the release of the Disney film Christopher Robin, which stars Winnie, and also launched a crackdown on the cartoon character.

'I imagine there were a series of stuffed animals'

When asked about whether the photo had a deeper meaning, Pompeo laughed off the suggestion.

"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. His post comes during heightened tensions between the United States and China over the latter’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, China.

US-China's deteriorating relations 

Pompeo has been on the frontline in criticising the Chinese Communist government over the Coronavirus pandemic, for denying free expression, clamping down in Hong Kong. 

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Secretary of State Pompeo on Wednesday announced that the US will impose visa restrictions on certain employees of Chinese tech companies like Huawei that provide "material support" to regimes engaging in human rights violations and abuses globally, further straining bilateral ties.

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The US last week imposed sanctions and visa restrictions on three senior Chinese officials, including the regional boss of the ruling communist party, for alleged human rights abuses targeting Uyghurs, ethnic Kazakhs, and members of other minority groups in the restive Muslim-majority Xinjiang province. Pompeo also reiterated that the South China Sea is not China's maritime empire.

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Earlier, while announcing the visa restrictions, Pompeo said that the US has long been a beacon of hope for the world's most oppressed people, and a voice for those who have been silenced. We have been especially vocal about the Chinese Communist Party's human rights abuses, which rank among the worst in the world, he said.

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(With agency inputs)