Beijing targets Taiwanese writer Lung Ying-tai as bad egg for supporting Hong Kong protesters
- Lung likens demonstrators to a small egg up against a wall of steel
- Communist Party mouthpiece says her thinking is scrambled
A prominent Taiwanese writer and democracy advocate has come under attack from mainland Chinese state media over her support for extradition bill protesters in Hong Kong.
In a commentary on Wednesday, People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, accused Lung Ying-tai, a cultural critic and Taiwan’s former culture minister, of turning a blind eye to “violent rioters” who strained the relationship between mainland China and Hong Kong, “exposing the narrowness of her thinking”.
“Everywhere, slogans that are tinted with Hong Kong independence can be heard,” it said.
“People are crazily blocking the airports and destroying subway facilities, even setting fire on the streets. Where is the egg? This is an iron hammer.”
The commentary was referring to a Facebook post on Monday in which Lung compared the protesters in Hong Kong to a “small chicken’s egg” confronting a “wall of iron and steel”.
The commentary questioned why Lung “only saw the egg but not the fire bombs”, referring to petrol bombs thrown by protesters in increasingly violent clashes with anti-riot police.
