“I am brazilian, so this is my deal: I will go there and say sorry, forgive me for my imbecility” and the only thing i want in return is that the 60.000 respirators that are available, sell us 1.000 to save brazilian lives”, said on monday minister Abraham Weintraub, in an interview to Rádio Bandeirantes.
He said that it is needed 1.000 ventilators to university hospitals linked to the Education ministry all over the country, who also treats patients in the public health network.
“Bring a thousand respirators here to my hospitals, and I go to the Chinese embassy in Brasilia and say ‘I’m an idiot, and ask for a thousand pardons’. (…) I would accept to humiliate myself to save Brazilians, but otherwise I wouldn’t , they are crowing “, declared the government official.
Chinese officials on Monday demanded a retraction after a comment by the Brazilian education minister. The Asian country described as “strongly racist” and said it caused “negative influences” in relations between the two countries.
“The Chinese side is awaiting an official statement from the Brazilian side on the words of the Minister of Education, a member of the Brazilian Government. We are aware that our people are on the same side to resist racist words and to safeguard our friendship”, writes the ambassador of China in Brasilia, Yang Wanming, in a post on the social network Twitter regarding an official protest by the Chinese embassy.
The disagreement was caused by a message from Minister Abraham Weintraub, who used the character Chives from the comic strip “Turma da Mónica” to suggest that the new coronavirus pandemic is part of China’s “infallible plan” to take over the world.
“Geopolitically, who can get out of the world, in Lelative terms, from this global crisis? Can Lia se Cebolinha? Who are the allies in BLasil of the infallible plan of Cebolinha to dominate the world? Does SeLia o Cascão or are there more friends?”, Wrote Weintraub, this Sunday in your account on the social network Twitter.
Cebolinha, one of the most popular children’s characters in Brazil, has diction problems and changes the letter “r” to the letter “l” when speaking, a replacement that is also associated with the Chinese.
The minister later deleted the message on Sunday.
In an official statement, also published on Twitter, the Chinese embassy maintained that the Brazilian ruler, “ignoring the position defended by the Chinese side in various efforts, made defamatory statements against the country on social media and stigmatized Beijing by associating it with the origin of the covid-19 “.