April 12, 2023, 05:42 PM
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An unofficial Republic of China Air Force patch become a hit recently.
Why? Perhaps because it depicts a Formosan black bear holding a Taiwanese flag and punching Winnie the Pooh.
Formosan black bears are endemic to Taiwan while Winnie the Pooh is widely used as a caricature of China's president Xi Jinping.
The patch was first spotted on an R.O.C Air Force pilot’s flight jacket in a tweet by Taiwan’s Military News Agency on Apr. 9.
面對共軍蓄意製造臺海緊張，國軍秉持「不升高衝突、不引發爭端」原則，以訓練為著眼應處敵情，時刻捍衛國家安全。#空軍防空部隊 擔任防空警戒任務，官兵始終保持高度警覺、加強戒備，無負守護國家安全的責任。防砲部隊官兵操作 #35快砲 及 #天兵雷達… pic.twitter.com/RnkJZmjtAS
— 軍聞社 Military News Agency, ROC(Taiwan)🇹🇼 (@mna_roc) April 9, 2023
Image via Twitter/@mna_roc
As of time of writing, the tweet had garnered more than 1,200 likes and 350,000 views.
Designed by Air Force veteran
The patches were designed by former Air Force veteran Alec Hsu, who has been selling the patches since 2022 on his Facebook shop, according to SET News.
They were also spotted on online shopping website Ruten, retailing for between NT$100 (S$4.36) and NT$300 (S$13.09).
Image via Ruten
The blue version writes “Fight for Freedom” while the red one says “We are Open 24/7”.
Both have “Scramble!” written at the bottom, referring to what the R.O.C Air Force has been doing in response to the increased frequency of China's military activities.
Hsu said that he wanted to boost the morale of Taiwanese troops with the patches, and saw a sudden increase in orders after the image of the pilot wearing it surfaced on Apr. 9, according to Reuters.
As of Apr. 11, around 2,000 patches have been sold, resulting in a stock shortage, SET News reported.
Although it is not an official R.O.C Air Force patch, officers and fighter pilots are allowed to put them on so as to boost morale.
Chinese military drills
The popularity of the patches soared after China conducted a series of military drills in response to the meeting between Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Apr. 5.
China condemned the historic but politically-sensitive meeting and announced on Apr. 8 that they would stage military exercises around Taiwan.
PLA's Eastern Theater Command has announced to conduct combat-readiness patrols and joint exercises encircling #Taiwan starting today. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly with our assets to defend our country. pic.twitter.com/Dq1f3fKBee
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) April 8, 2023
On Apr. 10, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected a record 91 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft and 12 PLA Navy vessels around Taiwan.
91 PLA aircraft and 12 vessels were detected by 18:00(UTC+8) on April 10th. 54 of the detected aircraft had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered our SW & SE ADIZ. #ROCArmedForces have monitored the situation and tasked our assets to respond. pic.twitter.com/iFjSCq9gJX
— 國防部 Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C. 🇹🇼 (@MoNDefense) April 10, 2023
Taiwan's armed forces continued to monitor the situation and readied their aircraft, vessels and land-based missile systems to respond to the activities.
Taiwan condemns exercises
Taiwanese lawmakers slammed China’s three-day military drills, expressing their “strong condemnation” towards them and said that they had "escalated tensions in the region," Focus Taiwan reported.
In a video statement on Apr. 11, Tsai said that it was irresponsible of China to use her exchanges with Taiwan’s allies and transits in the U.S. as an excuse to launch military drills.
She thanked Taiwan’s military forces for protecting their airspace and territorial waters, and urged both the military and civilians to be united in preserving democracy in Taiwan.
Though China’s military drills have ended, Taiwan’s armed forces will continue to hold their defence, said Tsai.
Reference to Xi
Winnie the Pooh is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear conceptualised by English author A.A. Milne and illustrator E. H. Shepard.
It has also become the source of memes that compare the character to Xi.
In late 2022, the image of Winnie the Pooh holding a white piece of paper gained attention for its politically loaded symbolism to the "white paper" protests in China.
Earlier in March, a planned screening of a horror film based on the character was cancelled in Hong Kong due to "technical reasons".
The comparisons began in 2013 when a photo of Xi walking with his then-counterpart U.S. president Barack Obama was juxtaposed with an image of Pooh walking with his friend Tigger.
Xi Jinping and Barack Obama as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. China not amused http://t.co/WpOFcl56gO pic.twitter.com/kQzPBFLs8V
— Jeremy Barker (@PoppedCulture) June 17, 2013
Related:
Top images via Ruten & Twitter/@mna_roc
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