[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, June 14, 2023]Argentine football king Lionel Messi will play a game in Beijing on June 15, which happens to be Xi Jinping’s 70th birthday. French media said that this is by no means a coincidence. Xi Jinping loves football, and Messi’s visit to Beijing to play football is a birthday gift given to Xi by someone to celebrate Xi’s birthday.
Messi plays football to celebrate Xi Jinping’s birthday?
Messi arrived in Beijing on June 10. On the 15th, he will lead the Argentine team to hold a friendly match with the Australian team at Beijing Workers Stadium.
French media “The China Project” website reported on June 12 that this day is also Xi Jinping’s 70th birthday, and his love for football is well known.
“Xi Jinping may not be able to realize his dream of China winning the World Cup, but someone in Chinese sports is making sure Xi Jinping can throw a 70th birthday party that he will enjoy,” the report said.
Messi went to Beijing with many accidents: stranded at the airport, trapped in a hotel, meeting canceled
Messi, 35, is considered one of the greatest players of all time. His arrival has attracted tens of thousands of Chinese fans stationed outside airports, hotels and stadiums, just to catch a glimpse of the king.
However, Messi has been encountering unexpected situations since he stepped off the plane. He was first stranded at the airport for two hours due to visa issues. Because Messi has dual citizenship of “Spain” and “Argentina”, he is holding a Spanish passport this time. He needs to apply for a visa in mainland China in advance, but he can enter Taiwan with a visa on arrival.
At the airport, Messi asked in a daze, “Is Taiwan not counted as China?” which sparked heated discussions among netizens on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
After the “passport oolong”, Messi and the Argentine players stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing, but the hotel was already surrounded by a large number of fans. In order to block the fans, the hotel even pulled up a white cloth to block the fans’ sight, which attracted many fans to “swear”.
The gymnasium used for training in the hotel was also occupied by fans, Messi and others had to train in the banquet hall. The organizer also canceled the on-site meeting between Messi and fans originally scheduled for the 14th on the grounds of potential safety hazards. Instead, it will be held on Taobao Live, where Messi will interact with fans online.
Current affairs commentator Chen Pokong analyzed in “Chen Pokong Discusses the World” that the cancellation of Messi’s fan meeting was not due to the enthusiasm of Chinese fans. He believed there were two reasons for this.
Chen Pokong said: “One is the security issue. The CCP authorities are afraid of riots.” Because the fans have all gone to Beijing, Sanlitun is crowded with people, maybe more than 100,000, or even hundreds of thousands.
He said that in the CCP’s imagination, these fans don’t know what will happen: “What if someone holds up a blank sheet of paper? What if someone asks for a salary inside? What if someone suddenly shouts “democracy”? What if someone unfurls a banner saying “Communist Party step down” or “Xi Jinping step down”? The police have to be dispatched immediately. So we simply don’t do it.”
Chen Pokong alluded to Messi being so warmly welcomed by Chinese fans that he stole Xi Jinping’s style. He said that another reason for the cancellation of Messi’s meeting is that China is now more and more like North Korea, which can only worship one person and not others.
“If there are millions of Chinese people, and tens of millions worship a foreign player, it will make some people in Zhongnanhai very uncomfortable and uncomfortable. So we canceled the fan meeting for safety reasons.” Chen Pokong said.
Messi’s arrival sparked many scams
In addition, the arrival of Messi also caused many scams. At 4 pm on June 12, the “Kuaishou” live broadcast platform announced on Weibo that there would be Messi’s live broadcast that night. The live broadcast started at 7 pm, and in less than an hour, there were 190 million views.
The fans waited for a long time, Messi finally showed up, but only appeared for 50 seconds, the host asked him a question about the Champions League and it was over. Within 50 seconds, 5 million people flooded into the live broadcast room, and the fans scolded Kuaishou for fraud.
In the past few days, some suspicious advertisements have been circulated on the Internet, such as the promise to spend 300,000 yuan to have dinner with Messi; spend 5,000 yuan to apply for the “inside” pass of the stadium; 8,000 yuan “customized VIP package”, including Messi’s signature Photos of jerseys, front seats and Messi.
The most daring fraudulent advertisement stated that for 50 million yuan, Messi could be invited to live stream the goods and promote the company’s products.
(Comprehensive report by reporter Luo Tingting/Editor in charge: Fan Ming)