Political pundits, masters of military affairs and foreign policy buffs on Saturday were trying to wrap their minds around the news of the seizure of a US underwater drone by a Chinese navy ship in the South China Sea and what would implications be on the Sino-American ties, already challenged by the controversial conduct of President-elect Donald Trump. Meanwhile, the Twittersphere was less fussy about the incident and more abuzz with Trump’s reaction to the capture of the military vessel.

The property mogul-cum-president-to-be intended to make a stern political statement, but a flagrant typo turned his tweet into a fodder for jokes among Twitter users.

“China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters - rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented (sic) act,” he wrote on Twitter, misspelling the word “unprecedented.”

Venting out on the social platform is second nature to Trump, but then again so are typographical errors.

The Republican nominee, who clinched a surprising victory in the presidential elections in November and is set to assume power on January 20, has sent analysts scratching their heads with his uninhibited and point-blank tweets, especially his latest tirades against China. His status as a president-elect making brusque comments on world affairs before taking office is widely seen as non-protocolary, and raises questions about what his rhetoric through his tenure as president will shape up to be.

And then there are the incorrect spellings of words, from outgoing President’s Barack Obama’s name to simple terms like honor and lightweight. 

The recent typo prompted him to delete and repost another Tweet. However, Twitter users had already spotted the mistake – and took a screenshot of it – and a slew of quips ensued.

15,000 people replied to the corrected version of Trump’s tweet, and the hashtag #unpresidented was even trending on Twitter in the US.

“@realDonaledTrupm don’t worry, we heard your cry for help,” @JoelNihelean tweeted with his screen capture of “unpresidented.”

“@realDonaldTrump it’s great you can spell” @Jack_Slater mocked the president-elect.

“@realDonaldTrump ‘unpresidented’ Only thing ‘unpresidented’ is you. Sorry I think your team is drugging you. Pls see a doctor ASAP,” @VeeVee posted hinting that “unpresidented” could be understood as a person who is not fit for the position of a president.

Trump’s typo made its way to the Chinese blogosphere, with one Chinese user on Twitter-like Weibo trying to come up with a definition to the new word concoction. @25yierliu’s entry reads: “unpresidented, adj. created by president-elect, which means behaviors are not allowed by the president.”

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and English dictionary Merriam-Webster also weighed on the matter, humorously posting their views about the typo.

With typos tallying up, The Daily Wire, an American news website, summarized more than 10 misspellings Trump has committed in his past Tweets.

The issue between Washington and Beijing was settled on Saturday with the decision to hand over the vessel. 

China’s Defense Ministry  expressed regret that the US side had to “publicly hype” the seizure of the US Unmanned Underwater Vehicle on December 15, but added that China has decided to return it in an “appropriate” way. 

Spokesperson for the ministry Yang Yujun explained that a Chinese Navy rescue boat discovered the “unidentified equipment” on Thursday afternoon and checked it in a professional and responsible way to prevent any navigational or personnel safety issues.

However, resolving the incident in an appropriate way did not appeal to Trump, who tweeted afterwards: “We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!”

His eyebrow-raising comment, while containing no spelling mistakes, is set to stoke concerns about Trump’s strategy in dealing with China once taking office, especially in the light of his protocol-breaking phone conversation with the Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and his overt challenge to the One-China Policy.