Chinese social media reacted with fury to proposals to name the first panda twins born in Germany “Hong” and “Kong” in support of the territory’s pro-democracy protests.

Readers of Tagesspiegel, a Berlin daily newspaper, had picked them as their preferred names in a poll. Bild, Germany’s highest-selling paper, threw its weight behind the choice, declaring: “Pandas are China’s involuntary tool to win the hearts and minds of Westerners and render them blind to its crimes.”

The suggestion was rejected, however, along with the other names picked by Tagesspiegel readers, which included Yin & Yang, Ping & Pong, Plisch & Plum and Max & Moritz.

The cubs belong to China, along with their mother Meng Meng and their father Jiao Qing, who arrived