"My wife is Japanese", UK top envoy makes 'terrible' blooper in China

UK foreign Secy Jeremy Hunt/ Image: AFP

New Delhi: Britain’s foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt made a blunder on his maiden official visit to China. Hunt wanted to strike a chord by mentioning that his wife is also Chinese, but ended up blurting ‘Japanese’ instead of ‘Chinese’.  Now, it is known that China and Japan are traditional rivals for centuries. Though relations have somewhat improved lately, they still remain at loggerheads because of issues such as Japan’s bloody occupation of parts of China in the 1930s and 40s. Hunt immediately acknowledged his terrible mistake and corrected himself. “My wife is Japanese..My wife is Chinese. That is a terrible mistake to make”, he told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, AFP reported. He added: "My wife is Chinese and my children are half-Chinese and so we have Chinese grandparents who live in Xian and strong family connections in China.” Hunt is married to Lucia Guo, with whom he has three children. He is in China in a bid to strengthen trade ties with Beijing ahead of Britain's exit from the European Union next year.