Nigel Farage blames China for UK's Christmas lockdown, Chinese reporter asks him to 'stop talking shit'

Drama.

Julia Yeo | December 22, 2020, 04:20 PM

Chinese state-owned media China Daily's EU Bureau Chief Chen Weihua has once again gotten into a very public spat on Twitter, this time with British politician Nigel Farage.

Twitter spat between Farage and Chinese reporter

Farage, who is the leader of the Brexit Party, sent a tweet on Dec. 20 "thanking" China for cancelling Christmas.

In response, Chen told Farage to "wear a mask and stop talking shit".

Called Farage "Trump's puppet"

Chen also called Farage "Trump's puppet" in a subsequent tweet, and said he was a "big joke in Europe".

Farage later quoted Chen's response to his tweet, saying that the Chinese Communist Party "should pay reparations for this global disaster".

Chinese state media Global Times published an article slamming Farage for his tweet and criticising the British government for not taking "necessary measures" to stop the pandemic from spreading in the U.K. The article read:

"The British government should take all necessary measures to tackle the virus spread before it is too late.

Nobody likes lockdowns, but they save lives. Is a lockdown worse than Covid-19 that kills?

Perhaps the answer is always 'Yes' to the politicians who care about only their political interests and see ordinary people as roadside grass."

Farage's tweet came shortly after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tough new restrictions across London and much of South-East England.

Residents under Tier 4 restrictions were asked to stay home for Christmas while all non-essential shops were told to shut as the government imposes safety measures to curb the spread of a new, fast-spreading strain of coronavirus in the UK.

Earlier spat with American Senator

Earlier in December, Chen had also found himself in a heated argument with American Senator Marsha Blackburn on Twitter.

Blackburn had criticised China in a tweet, claiming that the country "has a 5,000 year history of cheating and stealing".

In response, the Chinese reporter called her a "bitch", and added that Blackburn was the "most racist and ignorant U.S. Senator" he had ever seen in a following tweet.

Farage has long been known as a Eurosceptic in the U.K. since the 1990s, and was a leading campaigner for Brexit in 2016.

He later launched the Brexit Party in 2019, whose priority is for Britain to withdraw from the European Union.

Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here

Top image via Gage Skidmore, Chen Weihua/Twitter