The following post by Fan Lixiang (范利祥), a commentator for the Nanfang Daily Group Management School, was deleted from Sina Weibo sometime before 9:07 p.m. yesterday, September 25, 2012. The post is a Photoshopped image of U.S. President Barack Obama and China’s presumed next president, Xi Jinping, walking together as Obama leads his dog, which has the face of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. Fan Lixiang currently has more than 200,000 followers, according to numbers from Sina Weibo. [More on deleted posts at the WeiboScope Search, by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre].
In the above photo, Obama’s dialogue bubble reads: “Brother Xi, show some mercy. There is a saying that striking a dog falls to its master.” To which Xi Jinping responds, a clear reference to the ongoing row between Japan and China over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, and to U.S. involvement as Japan’s ally: “Let me warn you: go back home and go to sleep. Otherwise, I’ll strike the dog and his master.”
NOTE: All posts to The Anti-Social List are listed as “permission denied” in the Sina Weibo API, which means they were deleted by Weibo managers, not by users themselves.
