China’s Sichuan Airlines grounds worker for 7-year-old slur on social media
- The unnamed employee is believed to be a pilot and was reported to the airline by members of the online community
- The offensive comments against the majority Han Chinese population related to the Nanking massacre in the Second World War
An airline in China has suspended an employee over offensive comments against the country’s dominant Han Chinese population, which he is alleged to have made seven years ago as a university student.
Social media users reported the man – believed to be a pilot of Mongolian ethnicity – to Sichuan Airlines, which on Monday confirmed his suspension. He was employed by the company in August last year.
In a statement on social media platform Weibo, the airline said it attached great importance to the allegation and “relevant departments” were investigating the unnamed employee for comments made while studying at university.
“Thank you, netizen friends, for your feedback and oversight,” it said.
The allegations appear to relate to comments made in 2015 on a Weibo account named AynGA. The South China Morning Post has seen screenshots from the now-suspended account referring to the Nanking massacre during World War II.
The comments suggest the thousands of Han Chinese killed by Japanese troops “deserved” to die in the atrocity, which occurred in the city of Nanjing.
A note on the account said it had been suspended for violating the social network’s community guidelines.