China and Sweden's diplomatic spat deepens after 'poignant' comedy skit
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A Swedish comedy program that advised Chinese tourists not to "poop outside" or eat dogs has attracted the ire of Chinese authorities, who have labelled it a "vicious attack" on China.
Key points:
- The offending segment was a pretend "informational film" for Chinese tourists
- China said it was "full of prejudices, biases and provocations"
The skit from the television program Svenska Nyheter (Swedish News), which was broadcast on Swedish public broadcaster SVT last Friday, went viral in China after producers posted it on the Chinese video-sharing website Youku.
Svenska Nyheter, hosted by Swedish comedian Jesper Rönndahl, follows a similar format to John Oliver's popular Last Week Tonight program.
It was made in response to last week's allegations that Swedish police had "brutally abused" a family of Chinese tourists in the capital, Stockholm, an incident that kicked off a diplomatic spat between the two nations.
The end of the segment featured a short "informational film for Chinese tourists" dubbed in Chinese, which made jokes playing on a variety of racist stereotypes.
However SVT said the program had an "anti-racist ambition", and released a full version of the segment with English subtitles to clarify its intention.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on SVT to take action over the comedy sketch, and spokesperson Geng Shuang said authorities had made "stern representations" to the Swedish Government.
"The program leader's comments are full of prejudices, biases and provocations against China and some other ethnic groups. It is a serious violation of media professional ethics."
Sweden's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that "there is freedom of expression in Sweden", but did not make any further comment on the controversy.
Embassy slams 'hypocritical' apology
In a statement, SVT said the intention of the skit was to shine a light on racism against Chinese people in Sweden, but that it had backfired.
It said only the final part of the 10-minute video was posted to the Chinese video site, which led to it being misinterpreted.
"The purpose of the short segment published on Youku was to gather Chinese reactions. This was a mistake, as the entirety of our message and ambition was then lost," the broadcaster said.
"We recognise that this may have been an insult, for which we are truly sorry."
In a second statement, SVT program manager Thomas Hall reiterated that the program was intended to be anti-racist.
"I offer my honest apology to the individuals who have been offended by our segment."
China's Embassy in Sweden did not accept Mr Hall's apology, which it said was "insincere, hypocritical and without any real intention".
"Hall failed to reflect on the attack on China and the gross racial discrimination against the Chinese people ... It is an attempt to gloss over the fault and muddle through," it said in a statement.
The embassy also accused the program of using "a wrong map of China" that did not include Taiwan or parts of the Tibet region.
'That has nothing to do with Ikea'
The reaction to the skit on Chinese social media site Weibo was swift and fierce, while others left angry comments on host Jesper Rönndahl's Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Hello non-Swedish-speaking friends! The whole segment "Sinophobia is not ok", including the over-the-top-absurd infomercial, is now available with English subtitles! youtu.be/GpjkURzcgi8 Please share and enjoy.
Some netizens directed their anger at the official Weibo page of furniture company Ikea. The Swedish business has 25 stores in China, and the country is also an important part of its supply chain.
One fairly innocuous post on their Weibo account this week attracted more than 1,000 comments, mostly about the SVT comedy skit and last week's police brutality allegations.
Others argued that a boycott would only hurt the company's Chinese employees.
In a statement, Ikea said it was aware of "discussion connected to the recent comedy show in Sweden, however that has nothing to do with Ikea".
"We respect Chinese culture and tradition, diversity and inclusion has always been an important part of the Ikea culture and values," it said.
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