JAKARTA/HANOI: The coronavirus outbreak has stoked a wave of anti-China sentiment around the globe, from shops barring entry to Chinese tourists, online vitriol mocking the country’s exotic meat trade and surprise health checks on foreign workers. Chinese authorities have said the virus emerged from a market selling illegally traded wildlife, giving rise to widespread social media mocking of China’s demand for exotic delicacies and ingredients for traditional medicine. “Stop eating bats,” said one Twitter user in Thailand, the top destination for Chinese tourists. Vietnam, which was under Chinese occupation centuries ago and contests Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea, has particularly fraught relations with China. Nearly 40% said they thought China was “a revisionist power and intends to turn Southeast Asia into its sphere of influence”.

Source: Pakistan Today January 30, 2020 15:56 UTC