Canada expressed regret this week after Chinese officials lodged a complaint against a custom t-shirt design which appears to show the word ‘Wuhan’ overlaid a stylized W which is the emblem of the Wu-Tang Clan hip-hop group.
Seen out of context, the band’s logo bears resemblance to a bat which some people believe is the source of the coronavirus pandemic originating out of Wuhan.
“We are very shocked by this and have lodged representations with Canada, asking for a thorough investigation and a clear explanation," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.
It is not known how photos of the t-shirt, which was made in a small quantity at the request of Canadian diplomat Chad Hensler early last year, found their way to Chinese social media but the post has gone viral with many users condemning the design.
“The T-shirt logo designed by a member of the Embassy shows a stylized W, and is not intended to represent a bat,” Canada’s Foreign Ministry told Reuters. “It was created for the team of Embassy staff working on repatriation of Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020.”
China “doesn’t buy this explanation,” state media organization Global Times wrote on Thursday. The article accused Hensler of orchestrating a smear campaign to suggest COVID-19 originated from a bat in Wuhan, a theory Chinese authorities have vehemently denied.
With a World Health Organization investigation into the origins of COVID-19 now underway in Wuhan, the possible relationship between the virus and a natural reservoir in China's bat population is a particularly sensitive matter.
The Canadian diplomat “deceived the Chinese T-shirt maker and deliberately planned to conceal his ill-intentioned motive since May when he placed the order,” the editorial continued.
This is another strike against Canada in China's books, after Vancouver border guards took Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou into custody more than two years ago. In retaliation, two Canadians in China, a foreign ministry worker and a businessman, were jailed and they remain behind bars.
