Trudeau Liberals apologize to China over joke 'WUHAN' T-shirts

Note: Trudeau image is composite made by staff.

The Trudeau Liberals have officially released a statement apologizing to the Chinese public and government over T-shirts with a spoofed Wu-tang clan logo, reading "WUHAN" on the front.

The T-shirts were privately produced among staff at the embassy, according to the statement.

"The Embassy of Canada wishes to convey our sincere regret that the private production of T-shirts for embassy staff featuring Wuhan and the logo of a popular hip-hop group has offended public sentiment in China," it reads. "These T-shirts were not produced to make any statement, political or otherwise, and we regret the offence they may have caused."

A statement from Global Affairs Canada states: "This was a personal initiative from an employee and this was not endorsed by the embassy nor Global Affairs Canada. We regret the misunderstanding."

According to the Global Times, the Chinese Foreign Ministry warned Canada that the T-shirts should be used as a warning to ensure similar incidents do not occur in the future, as the incident caused "offence."

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

"The wrongdoing of the Canadian staff concerned has already caused an egregious impact and triggered strong resentment and discontent among the ordinary Chinese people," Wang said. "The Canadian side should take the matter seriously and give a clear explanation to the Chinese side as soon as possible."