Brighton apologises after Japanese star Mitoma’s photo with Imperial Army officer sparks outrage among Chinese fans, drawing millions of views online.
CHINESE football fans have condemned Premier League side Brighton and their Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma over a social media post.
The post showed Mitoma smiling and holding a mocked-up football card featuring Hiroo Onoda, the last Japanese soldier to surrender after World War II.
Millions of Chinese were killed during the brutal fight against Imperial Japanese forces.
Their record of massacre, rape and looting still strains relations between Beijing and Tokyo.
Brighton & Hove Albion’s academy apologised on Saturday after the post caused an outcry.
By Monday, the topic “Premier League team apologises to Chinese fans” was the top-trending item on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
It had been viewed more than 15 million times.
“There are actually Premier League teams that support fascists,” read the top-liked comment under a post by state-backed tabloid The Global Times.
Others called for Brighton to terminate Mitoma’s contract.
“It is hoped Chinese football fans won’t let him off the hook,” another commenter said.
“We must make him understand our resolve, learn a lesson, or else there will be more Kaoru Mitomas who raise their heads.”
Brighton said the picture was taken at an event leading up to the Premier League Christmas Truce Tournament.
The tournament sees under-12 players from eight English clubs compete against European ones.
It is named for an impromptu December 25 truce in World War I, when British and German soldiers met in no-man’s land.
The Premier League describes it as an event where youth players gain “understanding of the historical events that shaped our world”.
It is not clear how the image of Onoda came to be made into a football card.
Onoda refused to believe World War II was over and waged a guerrilla campaign in the Philippine jungle for three decades.
Brighton apologised for “offence caused in China”.
“We hugely value our fans in China and had no intention of causing any offence,” the club’s youth academy said in a post on X.
The statement was reposted by the club’s main account. Mitoma, who has been capped 29 times by Japan, has not commented publicly.
Relations between Beijing and Tokyo are particularly testy.
This follows Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.
