First published
On June 5, the topic “China Post Starts Cooperation with Huawei” (#中国邮政与华为合作#) became one of the hottest topics on social media site Weibo shortly after the state-owned China Post Group Corporation announced that it would start a strategic partnership with the Chinese multinational tech company.
According to CNbeta.com, one of China’s major tech news sites, China Post and Huawei will start a close partnership and set up a “China Post Huawei New Technology Application Lab” (中国邮政·华为新技术应用实验室) to jointly develop strategies concerning financial services, tech innovation, big data, post logistics, and more.
News of the cooperation was widely shared on Chinese social media today by various state media outlets, with some threads attracting thousands of comments.
For many Chinese netizens, the press release apparently was the right time to complain about China Post being “too slow,” expressing hopes that the new partnership would make the postal services run more smoothly.
“Little Huawei crying on the shoulders of China Post.“
Others suggested that the recent trade war with the US, in which Huawei plays a key role, might have to do with this new move. “This is like little Huawei was being bullied outside, and then came back home to cry on the shoulders of China Post,” one Weibo user jokingly writes, soon receiving over 10,000 likes.
Others called China Post the “the fisherman with an advantage.” This comes from a Chinese saying, that goes 鹬蚌相争,渔翁得利 Yù bàng xiāng zhēng, yúwēng dé lì : “When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman has an advantage,” with the ‘fisherman’ being the third party who catches both the snipe and the clam, profiting from the conflict of two others.
The Chinese telecom giant Huawei was added to a trade blacklist earlier last month, as the China-US trade war reached another tipping point. Some experts suggest that US President Trump is using Huawei as a bargaining chip after he earlier stated that Huawei could be included in “some kind of trade deal” with China.
News of the Huawei/China Post partnership also comes days after China’s postal regulator said it would launch an investigation into US delivery company FedEx, which diverted two parcels destined for Huawei in China to the US. Chinese government authorities reportedly issued a statement saying that FedEx’s actions had “violated Chinese laws and regulations on the express delivery sector.”
“China Post kissed Huawei’s face and said: I will handle this for you.“
Chinese netizens seem to be creatively inspired by Huawei’s tough spot in the China-US trade war situation and the sudden appearance of China Post in this story. Many commenters personify ‘Little Huawei’ and ‘Big China Post,’ imagining that China Post comforts the crying Huawei and takes it in its arms.
One person writes:
“One day, Hua returned home, and went straight to bed. China Post saw it, and softly asked ‘What happened, who made you upset?’ Huawei pulled the blanket over his head and sighed: ‘Nothing, it’s a trivial matter, I can handle it myself.’ But the Post pulled down the blanket, bowed down to kiss Huawei’s face and said: ‘You go and rest now. I will handle this for you.’“
“They’re so cute together!”, multiple Weibo users write, suggesting that the Huawei China Post partnership has a ‘romantic’ element to it.
Although some people expect that there are ulterior motives behind the sudden cooperation between China Post and Huawei, many do applaud the fact that it is truly a ‘Chinese’ cooperation. “In crucial times we always rely most on our own family,” a student remarks.
By now, the cooperation is not just triggering people’s fictional creativity, it is also setting off the online meme machine, with a potential new logo for the China Post x Huawei company circulating online (see below).
Whether or not Huawei and China Post indeed get to live happily ever after? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Also read: Waves of Support for Huawei on Chinese Social Media following US Blacklisting
By Manya Koetse
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