Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin. Photo: VCG

Canada should take its diplomat's "Wuhan-bat" T-shirt incident as a warning to ensure similar things do not happen again, the Chinese Foreign Ministry  said, after the Canadian Embassy in Beijing admitted the T-shirt had caused "offence" to Chinese people. 

Chad Hensler, a staff member of the Canadian Embassy in China, placed an order for T-shirts emblazoned with a bat-like image around the words "Wu-Han" in May 2020, which sparked outrage among Chinese netizens when the incident was disclosed recently.

The Canadian embassy on Sunday issued a statement saying that the embassy wanted to convey sincere regret that the incident "offended public sentiment in China."

"These T-shirts were not produced to make any statement, political or otherwise, and we regret the offence they may have caused," the statement said. 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at Monday's media briefing that China has noted that the Canadian Embassy in China admitted the Canadian diplomat's behavior offended Chinese people. 

"Canada should take it as a warning to ensure that such incidents won't happen again," Wang said. 

A spokesperson for Canada's foreign service last week called the incident a "misunderstanding," but Wang did not buy it, saying the excuse was unconvincing and Canada should provide a clear explanation to China as soon as possible. 

A source close to the matter told the Global Times exclusively that the Canadian diplomat involved had deceived the Chinese T-shirt maker and deliberately planned to conceal his ill-intentioned motive since May 2020 when he placed the order.

He had sought companies that produce T-shirts with cultural symbols as early as in May, and after he contacted one Chinese e-commerce firm, he had hesitated to provide the image to be printed on the T-shirts. It was only in July when the Chinese company urged him to provide the image for printing that he did so, the source said.

Global Times