It was just a photo of a dog, but as the sages would say, a picture paints a thousand words.
A tweet by U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has raised some eyebrows over whether the top-ranking White House official is trying to send a message to China.
Pompeo posted a photo of his pooch, Mercer, on his social media account, and captioned "all of her favorite toys". The toy seen on the tweet is a Winnie the Pooh stuffed bear from the popular children's books and TV series by the same name.
The seemingly innocent picture of Mercer prompted social media users to wonder if Pompeo was having a crack at the Chinese government.
It has fueled speculations considering that Winnie the Pooh is a common disparaging moniker for Chinese leader Xi Jinping because of his alleged likeness to the cute bear.
The Chinese are not too fond of Pompeo, and have criticized him as a "liar" and "evil." Pompeo has denied that there was a hidden meaning or a jab at the Chinese president.
AA Milne's cuddly but slow-witted pet with an addiction to honey turned into a meme after photos of Xi alongside lean former US president Barack Obama, who drew comparisons to Tigger, Winnie's friend, were released.
The Chinese government has since acted to scrap the meme from its online sites, and in 2018 Beijing banned the release of the Disney movie "Christopher Robin," which stars Winnie.
A search of the word "Winnie" on China's popular Sina Weibo site currently only brings up state-approved media or verified accounts. A disclaimer also appears at the bottom of the microblog that says some results have been deleted from the searches.
The American diplomat has been very vocal about China, denouncing the communist regime for barring freedom of speech, employing a tight grip on Hong Kong and failing to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Pompeo has always had China on his crosshairs, but he claims his dog is not part of his campaign, nor is it intended to insult anyone. When informed that BBC had released a story pondering about a deeper meaning, Pompeo laughed and said he had not seen it.
"I imagine there were a series of stuffed animals, and they were distributed for Mercer's benefit," Pompeo told Iowa conservative radio host Simon Conway, as quoted by Jarni Blakkarly on his SBS News story.
The Chinese government has actively censored what it deems as insulting comments or monikers that may create mockery of its Communist Party officials. Chinese netizens, however, have long come up with creative ways to reference the country's leadership on social media.
