(Illustration by @KluddNiklas for Kinamedia) (Illustration by @KluddNiklas for Kinamedia)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Swedish cartoonist created this illustration to contrast the sensationalistic coverage by foreign media of China's military exercises with the sedate stance taken by Taiwanese.

On Aug. 2, just minutes after Nancy Pelosi's arrival in Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) said it would hold "important military exercises and training activities including live-fire drills" in six areas around Taiwan from Aug. 4 to Aug. 7. The drills included record single-day numbers of PLAAF aircraft entering the air defense identification zone, with many crossing the median line.

International media reporting on Beijing's saber-rattling reached a fever pitch with headlines warning of the "Noose Before The Invasion" and experts touting Beijing's new ability to "strangle Taiwan." However, even at the height of the drills when four Chinese missiles soared over Taipei, albeit "outside the atmosphere," the government did not issue any alerts and Taiwanese dined at restaurants and shopped on the streets as usual.

Despite the fact that the live-fire drills were unprecedented in terms of scale and proximity to Taiwan, less than 10 miles in some areas, Taiwanese nonchalantly went about their daily lives having been raised under constant threats from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since birth. The island of Dongyin just off China's coast was illustrative of this unflappable attitude with visitors partaking in a bubble bath party complete with water "machine guns" and EDM music.

Swedish journalist Jojje Olsson posted an article on his news blog Kinamedia on Monday (Aug. 15) titled "Satire: Taiwanese citizens and foreign media reacts to China military drills" and included an illustration by Swedish artist Niklas Eriksson (@KluddNiklas). Olsson pointed out that some Taiwanese tourists even flocked to beach areas such as Liuqiu Island to catch a glimpse of the pricey PLA pyrotechnics show.

The focus of Eriksson's piece that day was the discrepancy between Western media coverage of the drills as "sensationalist or ignorant as it may be" and the actual conditions on the ground in Taiwan. Olsson noted that rather than "running for shelter or prepping food and other necessities, life on the resilient island goes on like normal," as it had before the exercises started.

Clearly inspired by Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," the illustration depicts the screaming figure wearing a bulletproof vest and a helmet with the words "Press" emblazoned on them. In the background, a ferocious red Chinese dragon is roaring and hurling missiles and fighter jets while two bespectacled Taiwanese tourists serenely record the spectacle with their smartphones.

(Illustration by @KluddNiklas for Kinamedia)

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