The EU’s Digital Economy
Commissioner, Guenther Oettinger,
has formally apologised
for making derogatory remarks
about Chinese officials.
“I would like to apologise
for any remark that was not as
respectful as it should have
been,” Oettinger said yesterday.
In a speech to German business
leaders he had spoken of
Chinese officials having “hair
combed with black shoe polish”
and called them “slitty-eyed”.
China reacted, saying Oettinger
had revealed a “baffling
sense of superiority”.
The German official has been
named as the next EU budget
commissioner, replacing
Bulgaria’s Kristalina Georgieva
who resigned last month to
take up the post of World Bank
CEO.
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