China and Canada are embroiled in a growing diplomatic uproar over T-shirts with a logo similar to that of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, but which according to Beijing is instead a coronavirus-related insult.
The Canadian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday apologized for any misunderstanding and said the T-shirts were not meant as slightly.
But the explanation does not satisfy Beijing, and prolongs a diplomatic feud that can only increase the volume in an already strained relationship.
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Photos of the T-shirts, which display the word “Wuhan” over the bat-like logo of the American group, began circulating on the internet in China at the end of last month.
Some online users claim that they were ordered by a Canadian ambassador and that they were an insult to the region where the deadly Covid-19 virus appeared at the end of 2019.
Beijing lodged a formal complaint earlier this week, calling on Canada to investigate the matter thoroughly.
Christelle Chartrand, spokeswoman for the Canadian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement to the Associated Press on Wednesday: ‘The T-shirt logo designed by a member of the embassy shows a stylized W and is not intended to represent a bat. It was created for the team of embassy staff who were repatriating the Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020. ”
“It was a personal initiative of an employee and it was not endorsed by the Embassy of Global Affairs Canada,” Chartrand said.
Like many other Western countries, Canada evacuated its citizens from Wuhan last February when the city was closed.
China remained nonetheless.
The alleged misunderstanding was “an alibi” that China simply could not accept, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Wednesday.
“We do not assume that senior diplomats who have worked and lived in China for years can accidentally make such a stupid mistake,” Wang said.
“Serious damage was done by such wrongdoing,” he added. “The Chinese people also find it very repulsive and difficult to accept. The Canadian side needs to take it seriously and give us a clear explanation. ”
The State Department on Thursday asked NBC News not to add anything further.
Wu-Tang Clan has not yet commented on the feud on its social media channels. NBC News released the band for its response.
Meanwhile, users on Weibo, a popular Chinese social network, have left furious comments among unrelated posts at the Canadian embassy.
It is suspected that bats may have been a reservoir for the coronavirus before it spread to humans in Wuhan, but the origin of the virus has not been definitively established. A group of experts from the World Health Organization are currently in the region trying to find out where the virus came from.
Beijing has tried to cast doubt on the origins of the pandemic in China.
While tensions with the US show no sign of abating, relations with Canada have also soured over the past few years.
Ottawa detained Chinese communications giant Huawei CEO Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a U.S. warrant.
Her lawyers politically motivated Meng’s arrest and demanded her release.
After the spat, China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor and charged them with espionage last year – a move widely regarded as retaliation.
Ed Flanagan, Salina Li, Matthew Mulligan and The Associated Press contributed.