After China sent dozens of fighter jets and bombers into Taiwan airspace on Monday, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden took aim at China-apologist and actor John Cena, who in May apologized to China in Mandarin for calling Taiwan a country while promoting his film “Fast & Furious 9.”
“So China is about to invade Taiwan. What say you @JohnCena ? You can reply in mandarin if necessary. Sellout,” Robert J. O’Neill tweeted.
In May, during a promotional appearance on Taiwanese TV, Cena noted that “Taiwan will be the first country to see ‘Fast & Furious 9,” which is directed by Taiwanese-American Justin Lin.
Cena was met with intense backlash from Chinese audiences on social media, prompting the actor to share an apology video.
“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,” Cena says in Chinese, according to a translation from the South China Morning Post.
“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.”
O’Neill jabbed at Cena in light of the actor’s past apologetics to China and China’s growing campaign of military pressure around China.
In response to the recent pattern of increased military pressure from China, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in an interview with Australia’s ABC News that his country is prepared to fight back if China attacks.
In total, the Chinese military flights on Monday included 36 J-16 and Su-30 fighter jets, 12 nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, 2 Y-8 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft and two KJ-500 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.
China sent previous record-breaking military flights towards Taiwan on Friday and Saturday.
On Sunday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price urged China to stop all military action toward Taiwan.
“The United States is very concerned by the People’s Republic of China’s provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations, and undermines regional peace and stability,” Price said. “We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said Price’s remarks were out of line and accused the United States of violating the “one-China principle.”
“Taiwan belongs to China and the US is in no position to make irresponsible remarks,” Chunying responded. “The relevant remarks by the US side seriously violate the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiqués and send an extremely wrong and irresponsible signal.”
John Cena’s apology to China was even as both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have agreed that the communist nation has committed acts of genocide against its Uyghur population in Xinjiang. During his final full day as Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo called out China for its treatment of Muslims and ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region, officially declaring that the Communist country has committed “crimes against humanity” and a “genocide.”
Pompeo cited forced labor, forced sterilization, torture and restrictions on freedom of religion or belief, freedom of expression and freedom of movement, in addition to the “arbitrary imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty of more than one million civilians.
