Was China angered over Hillary Clinton's 'shameless' tweet?
US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's tweet (below) has not gone down well with Chinese newspaper The Global Times, who reacted with a strongly-worded editorial to her for calling China's president Xi Jinping shameless.
Mr Xi had come under fire for detaining five female human rights activists in China on International Women's Rights Day earlier this year after their demonstration in public against sexual harassment on public transport.
Mrs Clinton, who has made women's rights a big part of her campaign, slammed Mr Xi for hosting a United Nations conference on women's rights even when those female demonstrators are still being held, reported the New York Times.
The Chinese delegation in New York also responded to her tweet and said that the demonstrators were detained because they had violated the law and not because they were lobbying for women's rights.
BBC News reported that The Global Times responded in both English and Chinese editorials by accusing Mrs Clinton of aping Republican candidate Donald Trump's bid to gain votes through bashing China.
Calling her a "rabble-rouser", the English article went on to criticise Mrs Clinton.
"She really has lowered herself.
"Chinese people aren't angry at her, but we now despise her a little."
The Chinese article was even more strongly-worded.
"It looks like Hillary has panicked, her eyes have turned red.
"Despite her political acumen and demeanor as former secretary of state and senator, she has lowered herself to using the language of Trump and became a fierce big mouth.”
But there were some netizens on Chinese micro-blooging site Weibo who were in support of Mrs Clinton's candour.
Wrote user wbxxxhhh: "Hillary wasn't criticitising the arrests of the activists, but instead was criticising their arrests on cooked-up charges."
"Chinese women don't even have the right to reproduce, let alone women's rights," wrote Te_leinijiangtui, referring to China's one-child policy.
The irony of it all?
Twitter has been banned in China so many people have not read Mrs Clinton's tweet.
According to Fusion, some netizens who read The Global Times' critique of Mrs Clinton are now angry instead that the paper did not publish what she said in her tweet.
Wrote Raffaeello on Weibo: "I dare you post her comment, the domestic media are so spineless that of course they think whatever others say is offensive.
"You are silenced so you won’t let others speak."
Source: BBC News, New York Times, Fusion
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