Chinese media call Shinzo Abe out for sleeping at Lee Kuan Yew's funeral
It's been an emotional week for Singapore as residents of the island country bid their final farewell to its first and founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew.
A state funeral took place on Sunday and was attended by leaders from around the world, and naturally, with so many high-profile diplomats present at one event being broadcast across the globe, some sort of mild scandalwas bound to ensue. Lee's funeral was no exception.
This time, controversy was centered around Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after images emerged of the leader seemingly nodding off during a musical performance at the funeral
The subject has since sparked heated debate among the world's netizens, who've been using the hashtag #ABEISSLEEPING to share their views over whether or not Abe was, in fact, sleeping.
Various Chinese media outlets questioned whether Abe was catching a few Z's during the event, while netizens in China compared Abe's movements to those of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who sat next to the Japanese leader.
Other web users have taken to forums insisting that Abe was merely having a moment to himself to soak in the music.
"[Japanese] close their eyes so that they are freed from distractions and are able to concentrate on the speech given," one netizen said.
Either way, Chinese state-run newspaper Xinhua had a very clear (and expected) stance on the subject:
Decide for yourself:
