Taiwan: jump in sales for air force badges showing bear punching Winnie-the-Pooh

China’s president, Xi Jinping, is often the subject of internet memes that compare him to the children’s character

Taiwanese are rushing to buy patches, popularised by air force pilots, that depict a Formosan black bear punching Winnie-the-Pooh – representing China’s president Xi Jinping – as a defiant symbol of the island’s resistance to Chinese war games.

China began three days of military drills around Taiwan on Saturday, a day after the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, returned from a brief visit to the United States, where she met US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy despite Beijing’s warnings.