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BEIJING (AP) – A ruckus brought by China over Canadian T-shirts bearing a modified logo of New York hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan continued on Wednesday, with China’s Foreign Ministry saying he hadn’t bought Canada’s explanation that the shirts weren’t a coronavirus-related insult.
The Canadian Foreign Office said this week that shirts using the Wu-Tang clan’s “W” logo but with the group’s name changed to “Wuhan” were not intended to be lightweight. He apologized for any misunderstanding.
The Chinese-made T-shirts were reportedly ordered last summer by someone from the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, and word has started to circulate on the Internet in China recently.
Chinese critics say the “W” is actually a bat, and the shirt is believed to imply a link between the animals and the virus outbreak in Wuhan city, playing on a stereotype of Chinese taste for eating exotic species. The virus that causes COVID-19 is believed to originate in bats, and its outbreak was first detected in Wuhan.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Wednesday that Canada’s explanation so far was “unconvincing.”
“The wrongdoing by the relevant Canadian personnel has already had a tremendous impact and sparked strong resentment and discontent among ordinary Chinese,” Wang said. “The Canadian side should take the matter seriously and give a clear explanation to the Chinese side as soon as possible.
Canadian Foreign Department spokeswoman Christelle Chartrand on Wednesday said in a statement that “the logo of the T-shirt designed by an embassy member shows a stylized W and is not intended to represent a bat. It was created for the team of Embassy staff working on the repatriation of Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020. ”
“This was a personal initiative of an employee and it was not approved by either the Embassy or Global Affairs Canada. We regret the misunderstanding, ”Chartrand said in an email.
Controversy is another irritant for country-to-country relations which has taken a nosedive in the past two years following China’s demand that Canada release a top executive at communications giant Huawei, wanted on charges of fraud in the United States. .
Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of the company founder, denies the charges. China says its case is politically motivated as part of a US effort to stifle the country’s global economic expansion. Her lawyers argue that she has been abused and should be released.
Canada arrested Meng at Vancouver Airport in late 2018. In apparent retaliation, China arrested former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor, imposed restrictions on various Canadian exports to the China and sentenced a convicted Canadian drug dealer to death in a new trial.
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