China’s ‘People’s Daily’ in a flap over satirical tweets

The People's Daily has taken to Twitter, which is banned in China, to call for the"immediate rectification" of a satirical account that pokes fun at the Chinese Communist Party and state media.

The Relevant Organs satirical Twitter account has more than 14,000 followers and mocks the bombastic, formulaic style of Chinese state media and government officials – there is much use of “fervent” and “ardent”.

The People's Daily , the official organ of the Chinese Communist Party, has taken offence at the Twitter account's use of a link to the People's Daily website and China's national emblem.

"We have noticed that a Twitter account has been misleading people by stealing People's Daily 's web address and national emblem of China to make false impression that the account is related to China officials or People's Daily ," read a statement posted on People's Daily 's Twitter account, @PDChina.

'Theft and forgery'
"We hereby solemnly declare that this Twitter account is not related to or does not have connection with any Chinese official bodies, including People's Daily ," the statement continued.

" People's Daily publicly condemns such theft and forgery conduct and demands the user of this account to make immediate rectification."

The response on the Relevant Organs was in character, hailing the People's Daily campaign and saying: "This is no time to go soft on Twitter's black elements!

“We have over 5,000 years of history and 1.3 billion followers once you get rid of a bunch of girls. Which news source would YOU trust?”

The Relevant Organs has been fairly quiet this year so far, having been busy last year with the trial of purged former senior communist Bo Xilai.

It poked fun at the late timing of the protest against its account. “Smoking gun: So-called @PDChina ‘caught’ us a year after our retirement. Much too fast for a real Party news organ. Rookie move, comrades.”

It also tweeted: “We may be semi-retired, but never have our organs felt so relevant. Positively swollen with patriotic fervour for the motherland!”