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Chinese state media criticizes Real Madrid for ‘equating’ Tibet and Nepal after flood
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Culture & Society

Chinese state media criticizes Real Madrid for ‘equating’ Tibet and Nepal after flood

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Ongoing story
  • Chinese state media criticized Real Madrid for referring to flood victims in Nepal and Tibet in the same social-media message.
  • The Global Times said the wording effectively encouraged covert separatist narratives and urged the club to use Beijing’s preferred names for Tibet.
  • The controversy trended on Weibo after a glacial collapse in Nepal sent ice, rocks and mud into China’s Gyirong county, killing more than 1,000 people and leaving over 4,000 missing according to separate tallies.

A message from Real Madrid honoring flood victims has drawn criticism from China’s state media after the club mentioned Nepal and Tibet together.

Real Madrid said on Instagram that a minute of silence had been held at the Santiago Bernabéu in memory of victims of the “terrible flood suffered by Nepal and Tibet.” The tribute preceded the club’s match against Málaga last weekend.

Chinese media interpreted the wording as placing Tibet, a region of China, on the same footing as Nepal, an independent country. The issue became a trending topic on Weibo, China’s social-media platform similar to X, which is blocked in the country.

Essentially feeds covert separatist narratives

— Global TimesThe Chinese state-affiliated newspaper criticized Real Madrid’s wording about Nepal and Tibet.

The Global Times, an English-language newspaper affiliated with the People’s Daily, said the formulation “essentially feeds covert separatist narratives” and called the club’s message “erroneous.” It urged Real Madrid to use terms favored by Chinese authorities, including “Xizang,” the Chinese transliteration, or “Chinese Tibet.”

A hashtag created by the official Beijing Daily, reading “Real Madrid equates Tibet and Nepal in the same list and refuses to correct it,” became one of Weibo’s most popular topics after more than 20 media outlets joined it.

The dispute followed a flood caused by a glacial collapse in Nepal on Aug. 26. A mass of ice, rocks and mud reached Gyirong and destroyed a border crossing between Nepal and Tibet. Separate casualty counts from Nepal and China put the death toll above 1,000, with more than 4,000 people missing.

Erroneous

— Global TimesThe newspaper used the term to describe Real Madrid’s flood-tribute message.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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