US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has denied there is any deeper meaning or jab at China's President Xi Jinping contained in a photo of his dog he tweeted.
But it didn’t take long for social media users to notice that the soft toy front and centre was a well-chewed fluffy Winnie the Pooh bear from the popular children’s books and television series by the same name.
AA Milne's loveable but slow-witted bear with a weakness for honey picked up as a meme after pictures of President Xi Jinping alongside slender former US president Barack Obama, who drew comparisons to Winnie's friend Tigger, were published. Mr Pompeo has championed a hard line against China, criticising the communist leadership for denying free expression, clamping down in Hong Kong and failing to stop the coronavirus pandemic.
"No, I imagine there were a series of stuffed animals, and they were equally distributed for Mercer's benefit," Mr Pompeo told Iowa conservative radio host Simon Conway.
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