Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was assailed at home and abroad yesterday after an undiplomatic post on Twitter during a state visit to China, in which she seemingly poked fun at Asian difficulties pronouncing the letters L and R.
Fernandez, on a mission to China to expand trade and political ties, tweeted in Spanish on the number of people attending one of her events in Beijing.
“Are they all with La Campola?” she said, referring to La Campora, her party’s youth organization, led by her son. “Or, are they only there for the lice [rice] and petloleum [petroleum]?”
It was a play on a political joke from home: Fernandez’s detractors said that her supporters only attend party events so they can get a free sandwich and a soda.
After the posts triggered criticism and accusations of racism, she followed up with another tweet that said: “Sorry. You know what? There is too, too much craziness and absurdity, only humor can get you through it.”
The Argentine president is already under the spotlight at home after the suspicious death of a prosecutor.
While the tweet was prominently covered in Argentine and international media, China’s state-run news outlets carried no mention of the gaffe or its diplomatic implications.
Twitter has been banned in China since 2009, over fears it could be used to organize protests, with Chinese using home-grown platforms that strictly adhere to government censorship orders.
However, posters on Chinese social media sites were still disdainful, with some pointing out that Fernandez was referring to more of a Japanese tendency than a Chinese one.
“How about you say two sentences in Chinese so I can hear your pronunciation?” a netizen said.
“Amazing she has the courage to beg for investment while at the same time ridiculing Chinese people,” a user on a Chinese microblogging site said.
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