John Cena apologizes to the Chinese: I love you and I'm very sorry

The star of "Fast and Furious 9", the American actor and wrestler, John Cena, apologized on Tuesday to the Chinese, after describing Taiwan as a "country" and provoking anger in the largest film market in the world.

Beijing considers democratic and autonomous Taiwan a part of its territory that it will someday regain, by force if necessary, and vigorously counter any diplomatic attempts to recognize the island as an independent state.

But the American actor Sina - who is also a star in the sport of wrestling - deviated from his diplomatic style during a visit to Taiwan in early May to promote the series of action and speed films, describing in one of his statements Taiwan as a "country" during a meeting with fans.

With the growing anger over this statement through social media in China, Sina published today, Tuesday, a video of apology on the Weibo platform in the Mandarin language.

Without repeating the controversial term, Sina said in the video, "I have done a lot of interviews to promote (Fast and Furious 9), and I made a mistake during one interview."

"I have to say a very important thing," he added. "I love and respect China and its people."

I am very sorry for the mistake I made.

I apologize".

The video was viewed more than 2.4 million times on the strictly censored Chinese site, while the Chinese media ignored the apology.

"Fast and Furious 9" achieved huge revenues at the box office after it was released on May 21 in China, collecting $ 148 million, according to the Chinese newspaper "Global Times".

But the apology offered by Sina was not enough for some users of social networks in China.

One Weibo user wrote, "Please say (Taiwan is part of China) in Chinese, otherwise we will not accept it," while another expressed his regret at the apparent lack of knowledge of the American representative that "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China."

Several entities, including the NBA and giants in the fashion industry, have faced boycott campaigns and fierce attacks on social media in China for speaking out about human rights violations or political issues that China considers prohibited.

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