Photo from Foreign Ministry website

 The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said it has lodged solemn representations with US-based newspaper the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) over an article with a "racist headline," which slandered China's efforts in fighting the coronavirus outbreak.

Geng Shuang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said that the article's "racist" headline, "China is the real sick man of Asia" by Bard College professor Walter Russell Mead, went against the facts and violated professional ethics. It also hurt Chinese people's feeling, and gave rise to indignation.

The Chinese side has demanded a public apology from the Wall Street Journal and asked for an investigation against those responsible for the article, but the newspaper continues to dodge its responsibility.

China urged the WSJ to take its request seriously, and China reserves its right to take further measures, Geng said.

After it was published on February 3, the article has sparked uproar in Chinese society. Many netizens exclaimed "how could a world renowned journal make such an intolerably racist headline?"

Some foreign readers also resorted to twitter to express their anger against the headline. One user said that "Whoever at the WSJ crafted this click-bait headline went too far. Some editor at WSJ contributed to the racial stigmatization of China."

On Thursday, a White House petition was launched to express offense over the article. As of press time, 111,303 people had signed up, exceeding the goal of 100,000. 

The petition asked for a proper apology from the paper as has been demanded by the Chinese community and either a retraction of the article or a rectification of the title. 

Global Times