A row between British right-wing politician Nigel Farage and Chinese journalist Chen Weihua has broken out on Twitter after the former “thanked” China for new restrictions in the United Kingdom that would prevent families from gathering over Christmas.

“Wear a mask and stop talking s----,” Chen wrote in response to Farage’s tweet that read “Christmas canceled. Thank you, China.”

In turn, Farage — the leader of the Brexit Party — suggested that China should pay reparations for the “global disaster.”

“The Chinese Communist Party don’t like the truth and always respond aggressively,” Farage wrote.

Chen, who heads the European Union Bureau of mouthpiece China Daily, said in response that he could not be “too polite” to a “Trump-type racist” like Farage.

The row was reported by Chinese news website Guancha, which framed Farage’s tweet as an attempt by British politicians to blame China for their own failure.

Some Twitter users thanked Farage for “speaking the truth” but others also said that it was the Tory government’s mismanagement that had led to a lockdown over the festive season.

The U.K. is battling a new strain of the coronavirus, which is said to be 70% more infectious than previous strains. London and several other areas in southeast and east England have been placed under the new Tier Four restrictions, which mean families will not be able to gather over Christmas.

Household mixing for other parts of England has also been limited to Christmas Day.

It was not the first time Chen had resorted to profanity on social media. Responding to German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass’s tweet to congratulate Joe Biden for winning the United States presidential election, Chen wrote “the f---king Mass.”

Chen also called Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn a “b----” after she tweeted that China had a “5,000-year history of cheating and stealing.”

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