<p>Patriotic badges showing Winnie the Pooh being punched in the face by a Taiwanese black bear -- a humorous dig at China's leader Xi Jinping -- have gone viral across the self-ruled island.</p>.<p>The iron-on patches being worn by some of Taiwan's air force pilots are a defiant message to Xi, who is often satirised for looking like the honey-loving cartoon bear.</p>.<p>"It's amazing. It's the happiest thing in recent days," social media user Mark Sasha Liang said on Facebook.</p>.<p>Chen Kai-chu, another fan, said: "Wear this to go through Chinese customs."</p>.<p>China, which claims the island as part of its territory, launched three days of massive war games on Saturday that involved simulating attacks on democratic Taiwan.</p>.<p>The show of force from Beijing was a response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.</p>.<p>Taiwan's defence ministry released a series of images and videos during the drills to show off its military preparedness.</p>.<p>One picture in particular, of an airforce pilot inspecting a fighter jet, immediately caught the eye of social media users.</p>.<p>They noticed on the sleeve of his jacket a patch featuring an illustration of a flag-wielding Formosan black bear pounding Winnie the Pooh.</p>.<p>The discovery set off a social media storm.</p>.<p>Two of the badges have the word "scramble" at the bottom, one of them also proclaiming "we are open 24/7".</p>.<p>A third badge designed last year shows a Taiwanese fighter pilot slapping a panda, China's national symbol.</p>.<p>It was produced when China carried out similar exercises in response to then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei last year.</p>.<p>Taiwanese people have rushed to buy the Pooh-punching patches, which sell for 200 Taiwan dollars (US$6.50).</p>.<p>The badges originated at Wings Fan Goods in Taoyuan city, east of the capital Taipei, where they have now sold out.</p>.<p>"It's so famous that my friends on the other side of the Pacific are asking me about this," fan Mob Liu said on Facebook.</p>.<p>Social media was flooded with requests for the patches, some from as far away as the United States.</p>.<p>"Please restock," said one user, identified as Abigail Eileen.</p>.<p>Sepfry Ng asked: "Can you ship overseas? To Hong Kong?"</p>.<p>A Facebook vendor who sells the patches said he has received around 1,000 orders since the image went viral on Saturday.</p>.<p>Most of the requests are from Taiwan but some have even been received from China.</p>.<p>"The people of Taiwan are disgusted with China's overacting military exercises after the Tsai-McCarthy meeting so this pilot's badge sparked discussion," said the Facebook vendor, who asked to be identified by his business name Wizardgeo.</p>.<p>"The people support the military in defending our sovereignty."</p>
<p>Patriotic badges showing Winnie the Pooh being punched in the face by a Taiwanese black bear -- a humorous dig at China's leader Xi Jinping -- have gone viral across the self-ruled island.</p>.<p>The iron-on patches being worn by some of Taiwan's air force pilots are a defiant message to Xi, who is often satirised for looking like the honey-loving cartoon bear.</p>.<p>"It's amazing. It's the happiest thing in recent days," social media user Mark Sasha Liang said on Facebook.</p>.<p>Chen Kai-chu, another fan, said: "Wear this to go through Chinese customs."</p>.<p>China, which claims the island as part of its territory, launched three days of massive war games on Saturday that involved simulating attacks on democratic Taiwan.</p>.<p>The show of force from Beijing was a response to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week.</p>.<p>Taiwan's defence ministry released a series of images and videos during the drills to show off its military preparedness.</p>.<p>One picture in particular, of an airforce pilot inspecting a fighter jet, immediately caught the eye of social media users.</p>.<p>They noticed on the sleeve of his jacket a patch featuring an illustration of a flag-wielding Formosan black bear pounding Winnie the Pooh.</p>.<p>The discovery set off a social media storm.</p>.<p>Two of the badges have the word "scramble" at the bottom, one of them also proclaiming "we are open 24/7".</p>.<p>A third badge designed last year shows a Taiwanese fighter pilot slapping a panda, China's national symbol.</p>.<p>It was produced when China carried out similar exercises in response to then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei last year.</p>.<p>Taiwanese people have rushed to buy the Pooh-punching patches, which sell for 200 Taiwan dollars (US$6.50).</p>.<p>The badges originated at Wings Fan Goods in Taoyuan city, east of the capital Taipei, where they have now sold out.</p>.<p>"It's so famous that my friends on the other side of the Pacific are asking me about this," fan Mob Liu said on Facebook.</p>.<p>Social media was flooded with requests for the patches, some from as far away as the United States.</p>.<p>"Please restock," said one user, identified as Abigail Eileen.</p>.<p>Sepfry Ng asked: "Can you ship overseas? To Hong Kong?"</p>.<p>A Facebook vendor who sells the patches said he has received around 1,000 orders since the image went viral on Saturday.</p>.<p>Most of the requests are from Taiwan but some have even been received from China.</p>.<p>"The people of Taiwan are disgusted with China's overacting military exercises after the Tsai-McCarthy meeting so this pilot's badge sparked discussion," said the Facebook vendor, who asked to be identified by his business name Wizardgeo.</p>.<p>"The people support the military in defending our sovereignty."</p>