People make incense offerings and pray at Wong Tai Sin Temple on the first day of Lunar New Year holiday on Feb. 8, 2016 in Hong Kong. (Photo : Getty Images)
The United Nations is facing intense backlash in China for a series of now-deleted posts on war and poverty on its Weibo social media page on Chinese New Year's eve.
"Your Spring Festival dinner must be very rich, but don't you forget there are 800 million people in this world who suffer from hunger every day and 800 million people live in abject poverty," reads one of the posts written by the U.N. official account on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media service, on Friday night. It also noted that the U.N. needs $250 billion to fund its sustainable development goal of eradicating poverty by 2030.
Another post says "when the Spring Festival fireworks light up the sky, let us show you another world," followed by a short video contrasting smiles and celebrations with images of war-torn areas and refugee camps.
The Lunar New Year's eve is considered to be auspicious event where conversations related to poverty, disasters and diseases and other negative topics are avoided to avoid attracting bad luck.
The posts were viewed more than 10 million times and received more than 54,000 comments before it was taken down. Most were negative and many urged the United Nations to be more sensitive of Chinese customs during the holiday season.
"Be respectful to our tradition please. Can't you say something nice today and save your teachings for Christmas?" read one of the comments cited by the Global Times, a local Chinese tabloid.
"You (expletive) UN go and talk about war, while we enjoy our Spring Festival," another post said. "Does the U.N. harbor some ill will toward China?"
Other netizens also argued that China, the world's second largest economy, is already doing its share of contributions to the U.N.
"We know more about that other world than you and our contributions are even greater," one post said, citing China's participation in U.N. peacekeeping, medical and construction work. "At this time, we are already working for that world, so don't come to us at this time and ask us to look at another world."
China said it has contributed nearly $60 billion in aid to 166 countries and organizations around the world. In 2015, President Xi Jinping pledged $2 billion in foreign aid during his first address to the United Nations, according to a report from Voice of America on Monday.
The U.N. has to issue a statement on the incident as of press time, although such messages on global issues are commonplace on U.N.'s various social media sites.
In addition to the controversial posts, the U.N. also posted several messages to commemorate the Lunar New Year, including a video from Secretary General Antonio Guterres highlighting what he said was the vital role of China in the organization.
"I've called for 2017 to be a year for peace. We must work together to overcome conflict, human rights abuses, poverty and other crises," Guterres said. "And above all we must work together to prevent these problems in the first place."
