A PRC government official who is a spokesperson for China, Hua Chunying, made an earth-shattering claim that Taiwan was a part of China because there were more than 100 Chinese eateries in Taipei.
She posted a tweet on 7 August, listing the different restaurants in Taiwan, and saying that “palates don’t cheat”, drawing ridicule from online netizens.
She tried to solidify her claim by saying there are 38 Shandong dumpling restaurants and 67 Shanxi noodle restaurants in Taipei.
She said on Twitter: “Baidu Maps show that there are 38 Shandong dumpling restaurants and 67 Shanxi noodle restaurants in Taipei. Palates don’t cheat. Taiwan has always been a part of China. The long lost child will eventually return home.”
Netizens, unsurprisingly, poked fun at her reasoning, with one netizen retorting that since Taiwan has Ramen restaurants as well, that makes Taiwan a part of Japan.
Another netizen claimed that there were 8,500 KFC restaurants in China, so that means China “undoubtedly belongs to KFC”.
One more netizen added: “3,500 Mcdonalds in China. 8,000 KFCs in China. 1,200 burger kings in China. 2,500 pizza huts in China. 5,400 Starbucks in China. Your country belongs to us and soon we will come to collect.”
Another comment said that based on Hua’s logic, the whole world belongs to Italy because every town on earth had at least a pizza eater in it.
Another netizen then brought Malaysia into the drama, saying that since there are 50 Malaysian restaurants in London, it belongs to Malaysia.