The flightless bird used to support the claim to the island lives in Antarctica, not the far north
China’s state-owned news agency Xinhua has mocked the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for employing the well-known ‘Nihilist Penguin’ meme to advance its effort to secure control of Greenland.
Last Saturday, the White House’s X account chose to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the meme, which depicts a solitary Adelie penguin leaving its colony to trek toward distant icy peaks.
It posted an AI-generated image of Trump guiding the flightless bird by one wing across an ice-covered expanse toward the mountains, where a Greenlandic flag stands. The penguin clutches a U.S. flag in its other wing. “Embrace the penguin,” the caption states.
The stunt didn’t escape online attention; Xinhua responded by informing the White House that these birds do not inhabit Greenland—a region in the Northern Hemisphere. Only Galapagos penguins can be found north of the equator.
“Even if there were penguins in Greenland, this is what it would look like,” Chinese journalists stated in their post, which included an AI-generated video of Trump wearing an Uncle Sam outfit, dragging a reluctant penguin on a leash while holding a baseball bat in his other hand.
The original ‘Nihilist Penguin’ image comes from German director Werner Herzog’s 2007 Antarctic documentary, ‘Encounters at the End of the World,’ and has only gone viral online since the start of this year.
The scene has spawned countless memes, and users have developed a range of interpretations for it: from a commentary on loneliness and existential crisis to a metaphor for independent thought and rebellion.
Earlier this week, Trump revealed that a “framework” for a Greenland agreement—negotiated with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte—is now on the table and would give the U.S. “all the military access we want.” The deal reportedly grants the U.S. “sovereign base areas” on the world’s largest island and accelerates rights to mine rare earth minerals.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun emphasized that Beijing has no intention of exploiting the rift between the U.S. and EU over Greenland. “China pursues an independent foreign policy of peace. We engage in friendly exchanges with other nations based on mutual respect and equality,” he stated.