John Cena apologises to China in Mandarin after calling Taiwan a country in Fast and Furious 9 interview

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John Cena has apologised to China in Mandarin after calling Taiwan a country in a Fast and Furious 9 interview.

The actor, who has joined the franchise as Jakob Toretto, came under fire after saying Taiwan would be the first ‘country’ able to watch the film.

Former WWE star John apologised for his ‘mistake’ in a recent clip on Chinese social media network Weibo and said (according to South China Morning Post): ‘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,’ the 44-year-old continued.

‘I’m very, very sorry about my mistake. I apologise, I apologise, I’m very sorry. You must understand that I really love, really respect China and the Chinese people. My apologies. See you.’

Taiwan, sometimes known as the Republic of China, is an island separated from mainland China (or the People’s Republic of China) by the Taiwan Strait.

The political status of Taiwan is controversial as there is some ambiguity as to whether it should be considered part of China, or if it should be its own territory, as a self-governing entity.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, despite Taiwan having been independent for all practical purposes since 1950.

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F9, which is set for release in June, will see Vin Diesel return to his role as Dominic Toretto.

He and John will star alongside Michelle Rodriguez (Letty Ortiz), Tyrese Gibson (Roman Pearce), and Jordana Brewster (Mia Toretto) for the highly-anticipated film.

The late Paul Walker, who played Brian O’Conner, also made a sweet cameo in the trailer.

One clip from the new film showed Dominic looking wistfully at a photo of Brian while talking about ‘moments that separate us’ as the world continues to change.

F9 is set for release on June 24.

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