The newspaper printed a long-circulated picture showing the bear strolling with his tiger friend Tigger next to a photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping walking with his then-US counterpart Barack Obama in 2013.
When the image first appeared online, Chinese netizens began posting photos of Xi in, what they considered, similar poses.The country already operates one of the world's most extensive and restrictive internet filtering and censorship systems, known as the Great Firewall of China.