There has been anger after a post on Chinese social media site Weibo mocked the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in India.
The account was linked to the ruling Chinese Communist Party and showed an image of a Chinese rocket taking off over the bodies of dead Indians being cremated. Cremation is a sacred part of the Hindu religion, the majority faith of India.
The test with the image read:
"Lighting a fire in China VS lighting a fire in India."
The post has since been deleted.
The account that posted the image belonged to the Communist Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
India is currently fighting the world's largest Covid-19 outbreak with almost half a million people testing positive for the virus in under 24 hours, just under 4,000 a day are also dying from the disease which has ravaged the country.
Many Chinese users of Weibo criticised the post. The editor of China's Global Times, Hu Xijin, a media outlet that is sympathetic to the Communist Party, criticised the post, saying:
"Hold high the banner of humanitarianism at this time, show sympathy for India, and firmly place Chinese society on a moral high ground."
China, along with the US, UK and other major nations, is currently donating large amounts of test kits and ventilators to India to assist their failing healthcare system. Outside many Indian hospitals there are queues of vehicles carrying the ill as there are no beds available inside. Many of the ill are without oxygen as many hospitals have now run out.
The Chinese leader has also sent his personal condolences to the people of India.
India and China are widely regarded as regional rivals and, over the last year, there have been clashes between the two armies in the disputed Himalayan region. Dozens were killed in the skirmishes. China was also accused of carrying out a cyber-attack on Indian infrastructure, a claim that China strongly denies.
India had been spared large numbers of casualties in the first wave of the virus, but has now become a global hotspot. The UK and many other countries have now banned all flights from India in a bid to stop importation of the virus.
[h/t: BBC]
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