'Double standards'? Tweet warning against iPhone boycott, written on an iPhone by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson

Photo by Twitter Capture, provided by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Park Hee-eun] Zhao Lijian (趙立堅), spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, warned that if the United States bans China's representative social app 'WeChat,' China would also stop using Apple's 'iPhone.' However, this warning has been criticized within China after it was revealed that he uploaded the warning using an iPhone.

At a regular briefing on the 27th, Zhao Lijian stated, "If the United States truly bans WeChat, we may also stop using Apple smartphones."

He warned that if the U.S. imposes sanctions on Tencent's social networking service (SNS) WeChat (Chinese name Weixin <微信>), Apple would also suffer significant damage.

In the early hours of the following day, the 28th, at 1 a.m. local time, Zhao Lijian uploaded this statement on his Twitter account.

However, at the end of the tweet, there was a note indicating 'Twitter for iPhone.' This revealed that the tweet was composed using an iPhone.

Previously, Zhao had long been uploading various posts, photos, and videos to Twitter using an iPhone.

Taiwan's Central News Agency reported that Chinese netizens have recently focused again on the fact that Zhao uses an iPhone, especially after his warning about boycotting Apple.

Some Chinese netizens reacted that it is inappropriate for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson to mention a boycott while personally using an iPhone amid the U.S.-China conflict.

Meanwhile, Hu Xijin (胡錫進), editor-in-chief of the Global Times (環球時報), known as the "unofficial spokesperson of the Chinese Communist Party," was also criticized by the public when it was revealed that Meng Wanzhou (孟晩舟), Huawei's vice-chairwoman, used an iPhone to post on Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) even in 2018 when she was arrested in Canada at the request of the U.S., sparking strong anti-American sentiment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.