John Cena is slammed as 'pathetic and spineless' for groveling in Mandarin and declaring his love for China after accidentally wading into territorial dispute by calling Taiwan a country while promoting Fast & Furious movie

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John Cena has been slammed as 'pathetic' and 'spineless' for groveling to China in Mandarin, saying he 'really, really loves China and the Chinese people', after enraging them by referring to Taiwan as a country. 

Taiwan and many Democratic countries around the world consider it an independent country with its own government.  It is a source of contention in Asia and around the world, and where other countries stand on it can tip their diplomatic relations with Beijing. 

The US has always done a delicate dance by supporting Taiwan with aide and military, without overtly going against Beijing. Trump tore up that precedent by ending decades of tradition and sending top state officials to Taipei in September 2020. 

Biden's administration is less critical of China but in January, when Beijing sent warplanes over Taiwan in an apparent test of America's loyalty, the state department replied saying its support of Taiwan was 'rock solid'. Tensions appear to be rising in the region with China increasing its military presence on the strait.  

Cena found himself at the center of the row when, during an interview on the Taiwanese network TVBS on May 8, he said in Mandarin: 'Taiwan is the first country that can watch F9.' [his new Fast & Furious movie]. 

Cena is fluent in Mandarin, having picked it up when he was touring the world as a WWE wrestler. China has long been a major market for Hollywood, but it also rakes in millions for the American wrestling industry too. 

Chinese fans and the government after seeing his video, were irate that after years of worshiping him, Cena didn't identify Taiwan as part of China. 

They slammed him on Weibo - often called the 'Chinese Twitter' - and threatened to boycott the movie franchise in response to his comments. 

'Fast & Furious can say goodbye! WWE star John Cena (Xina Zhao) said that Taiwan is the first "country" where you can see "F9". He has studied Chinese for so many years and said that he loves China very much. This mistake really shouldn't happen,' one said.

Cena, feeling the heat of the criticism from Chinese fans, recorded an apology video which he released on Tuesday on Weibo, where he has 600,000 followers. 

John Cena released a video on Weibo this week, apologizing to fans and saying how much he loved China, after outraging them by calling Taiwan a 'country' in an interview. Cena is fluent in Mandarin and often releases videos on Weibo to connect with fans. China is one of the largest markets for the Fast & Furious franchise. F9 - the most recent movie - pulled in over $130million in its opening weekend in China

He groveled: 'Hi China, I’m John Cena. 

'I’m in the middle of Fast and Furious 9 promotions. I’m doing a lot of interviews. I made a mistake in one of my interviews.

'Everyone was asking me if I could use Chinese – [movie] staff gave me a lot of information, so there was a lot of interviews and information. 

'I made one mistake. I have to say something very, very, very important now. 

'I love and respect China and Chinese people. I’m very, very sorry about my mistake. 

'I apologize, I apologize, I’m very sorry. 

'You must understand that I really love, really respect China and the Chinese people. My apologies. See you.'    

The video was played 2.4 million times on the strictly-controlled social media site, while Chinese media leapt on the apology.

Cena made no mention of the controversy on Twitter - where he has millions of followers and tweets in English. 

Instead, on Tuesday morning he tweeted cryptically: 'Being discouraged by failure is normal, being detained by failure can be toxic. 

'Learn, rise, grow. Never give up.' 

Universal, the studio which makes Fast & Furious, has not commented. 

The film was released in China and Taiwan on May 21 - five weeks before its US release on June 25. 

Cena has been slammed as spineless and a 'coward' by conservatives who say it is yet another example of Hollywood ignoring China's faults while happily taking its money. 

'Taiwan is a country. Hong Kong should be free.

The director of F9, the movie Cena was promoting, is Justin Lin. He was born in Taipei 

'If you are unwilling to say these things because it might hurt your bottom line, you are a pathetic coward,' Ben Shapiro tweeted.  

Cena's apology is the latest example of Hollywood and big business bowing to China out of fear of losing the exorbitant profits that are up for grabs there. 

Last year, Pen America - a free speech organization based in New York - issued a damning report about how Hollywood had been repeatedly bowing to pressure from China for fear of losing out on the money it represents for the industry. 

'Studio parent companies have a slate of Chinese business interests.  

This is the type of backlash Cena had been receiving on Weibo after going on Taiwanese TV network TVBS and calling Taiwan a country. The post above is from Weibo but has been translated from its original format 

Cena made no mention of the controversy on Twitter - where he has millions of followers and tweets in English. Instead, on Tuesday morning he tweeted cryptically: 'Being discouraged by failure is normal, being detained by failure can be toxic. Twitter is banned in China

'Disney, for example, has a 47 percent stake in the Shanghai Disneyland Park, which opened in 2016 and which cost over $5.5 billion to build. 

'Universal Studios, meanwhile, is planning to open the Universal Beijing Resort next year—complete with two theme parks, six hotels, a waterpark, and an entertainment complex—with construction reportedly continuing even during the coronavirus pandemic.

'All of these business pressures combine so that, in the words of University of California Los Angeles Professor Michael Berry, Hollywood studios “would be silly not to address the censors. 

'The Hollywood companies are increasingly savvy and increasingly paranoid. 

'Instituting self-censorship is the way to go, especially as the big mainstream blockbusters need China. Hollywood has internalized these self-censorship mechanisms.' 

In 2019, the NBA found itself at the center of a global debate over protests in Hong Kong after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeting in support of Hong Kong protests. 

He then deleted the tweet and apologized to China.  

 

WHO ELSE HAS BOWED TO CHINA? 

APPLE

Apple data is being processed by Chinese state workers with the tech giant wiping tens of thousands of apps at the request of the government. 

The state employees are said to manage servers at its data center in Guiyang and another in the Inner Mongolia region, The New York Times reports. 

That means the government is able to access personal data of millions of Chinese residents.

The encryption technology used by Apple elsewhere has also been banned by China, according to the report. 

Apps said to have disappeared include foreign news sites and gay dating services. 

NBA 

In October 2019, Daryl Morey tweeted his support for protesters in Hong Kong and their fight for freedom. 

Houston Rockets' general manager, Daryl Morey, apologized on Monday for the tweet he swiftly deleted over the weekend that included an image of the activists' rally cry: 'Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong' 

Morey then deleted the tweet and apologized to the NBA's fans in China 

He quickly deleted the tweet and issued a clarification, apologizing to the NBA's Chinese fans. 

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said afterwards that while he abhors China's human rights abuses, American businesses had to be 'careful' about 'which battles they pick' because the market is so enormous in Asia.  

HOLLYWOOD

In a 2020 report, Pen America - a free speech organization - said Hollywood had been self-censoring for years to appease Chinese investors. 

'Our biggest concern is that Hollywood is increasingly normalizing pre-emptive self-censorship in anticipation of what the Beijing censor is looking for,' the author said. 

Examples of it were; 

• Marvel's film Dr Strange 'whitewashed a major Tibetan character' for fear of jeopardizing the title's chances of success in China
• Top Gun sequel, Maverick and the 'mysterious disappearance of the Taiwanese flag' in a 2019 trailer
• The report also found that Quentin Tarantino was censored in China for not recutting Once Upon A Time in Hollywood to make Bruce Lee more heroic 

Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time in Hollywood was pulled from China a week before it was due to be released because he refused to recut it. The Chinese thought his representation of Bruce Lee wasn't heroic enough, according to the PEN America report

Last year, PEN America - a free speech organization - released a damning report about the ways in which China was censoring Hollywood and how Hollywood execs were rolling over for the sake of box office profits 

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The NBA commissioner defended him and Beijing blacked out some basketball games in retaliation which cut ad profits massively.  

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said afterwards that while he abhors China's human rights abuses, American businesses had to be 'careful' about 'which battles they pick' because the market is so enormous in Asia. 

Hollywood has been bowing to China investment for years, too. 

PEN America - an American, freedom of expression organization founded in New York City - recently released a report saying the American film industry has begun self-censoring to save Chinese box office numbers . 

Apple last week agreed to give the Chinese Communist Party access to all of the country's users' data. 

It is also working with a state lab and wiping apps such as news sites and gay dating services at the government's request, according to a New York Times report. 

Apple makes most of its products in China. 

President Biden hasn't yet taken a firm stance on the issue but all of the indicators suggest he supports Taiwan.

His administration has called Taiwan a 'a critical security partner' and they have been quietly preparing military strategies that would defend Taiwan should the Chinese increase their presence there. 

Taiwan is also of key value to the US because it is where much of the technology that the western world relies on is made. 

CHINA, TAIWAN AND THE TAIWAN STRAIT ISSUE

China considers Taiwan one of its territories and it's a widely held belief it'll become part of the mainland again.

In 1895, Taiwan - which had been part of China - was given to the Japanese as part of the Qing government's surrender during the First Sino-Japanese War It went back to the Chinese after WWII, when Japan surrendered, and the Republic of China started ruling.

When civil war broke out in China over the coming years, then leader - Chiang Kai-shek - was beaten back from the mainland. He and his troops fled to Taiwan in 1949.

China has been flying planes over the Taiwan Strait in recent months in a show of intimidation. It regularly tries to assert itself in the region 

A wounded soldier being flown off the island of Quemoy to Taiwan during a ceasefire between the Nationalist forces and the Chinese Communists in 1958

The people who had been living on Taiwan were outraged to have inherited him so after years of uproar, Chiang Kai-shek's son started the process of democratization and in 2000, Chen Shui-bian was elected as the leader of Taiwan.

 When civil war broke out in China over the coming years, then leader - Chiang Kai-shek - was pushed off the mainland onto nearby Taiwan which angered the people living there 

Since then, relations between Taiwan and China have been tense but stable.

China proposed a system similar to the one it operates with Hong Kong where the two would be unified, but Taiwan would accept it was part of China. 

Taiwan rejected it but in 1991, Taiwan declared its war with China to be over. 

Taiwan's first two leaders managed to maintain relations but its current president - Tsai Ing-wen - is pushing for full independence. 

She belongs to the DPP - the Democratic Progressive Party. 

In 2016, she broke with decades of tradition by gaining access to President Trump.

The pair spoke on the phone which enraged China - an adversary of Trump. 

The US has continued to show its support of Taiwan despite it angering the Chinese. 

In September 2020, during the final months of Trump's presidency, the US sent senior officials to Taipei. 

Taiwan's first two leaders managed to maintain relations but its current president - Tsai Ing-wen - is pushing for full independence. She belongs to the DPP - the Democratic Progressive Party.

Beijing retaliated saying, warning Taiwan not to send any wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' elements to avoid severe damage to China-US relations".

In January, in the first few days of Biden's inauguration, China sent several warplanes into Taiwan. Many saw it as a test of the US's loyalty to Beijing and Taipei. 

The State Department responded, calling America's support of Taiwan 'rock solid'.  

The United States looked to nuclear strikes on China in 1958 to protect Taiwan from an invasion by Communist forces, classified documents reveal. 

Military leaders also assumed that the Soviet Union would aid China and retaliate with nuclear weapons -a price they deemed worth paying to protect Taiwan.  

The South China Sea has a number of disputed claims, including those made by China 

Taiwan is not alone in its dispute with China in the region. 

Beijing has several disputes in the South China Seas, which is rich in oil and natural gas. China routinely tries to assert itself in the region to claim them. 

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called their pursuit of resources 'completely unlawful'. 

Taiwan is the US's tenth biggest trading partner. In 2019, the US and Taiwan exchanged $85.5 billion in goods trade.  

On May 21, the US released a joint statement with South Korea denouncing China's increased military presence. 

As tensions continue to grow between Taiwan and China, Beijing has warned the island's government that 'independence means war' amid increased number of military drills. Pictured: A detonation set off during a Taiwan naval drill on January 27, 2021, demonstrating their preparedness to protect their territory from invasion

The United States and the Republic of Korea oppose all activities that undermine, destabilize, or threaten the rules-based international order and commit to maintaining an inclusive, free, and open Indo-Pacific. 

'We pledge to maintain peace and stability, lawful unimpeded commerce, and respect for international law, including freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea and beyond. 

'President Biden and President Moon emphasize the importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. 

'As democracies that value pluralism and individual liberty, we share our intent to promote human rights and rule of law issues, both at home and abroad,' they said.