The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten has unleashed the wrath of China with a cartoon depicting the Chinese flag on which, instead of the stars, there are five coronaviruses. The drawing, which came out of Niels Bo Bojesen's pencil, was published yesterday and immediately sparked protests from the Beijing embassy in Copenhagen. "It is an insult to China and harms the Chinese people", it is written on the website of the diplomatic representation, according to which the cartoon "exceeds the limit of freedom of expression" and asks for "a public apology".
The newspaper's reply was equally indignant. "We can't apologize for something we don't think of as an offense," replied director Jacob Nybroe. A position also supported by the Danish premier Mette Frederiksen, who claims Denmark's "freedom of expression and drawing".
Fifteen years ago the Jyllands-Posten provoked the anger of the Muslim world for having published twelve caricatures of Muhammad, among which the most famous portrayed the prophet of Islam with a bomb in his head instead of the turban. The author of the drawing, Kurt Westergaard, retired ten years ago and has always reiterated that he has not regretted the cartoon.
