Coronavirus: Italian prosecco maker apologises after owner asks China to pay compensation

Bottega Spa owner said in letter published by Italian newspaper that China should pay for not raising alarm sooner about outbreak

Distributors in China suspend relationship with the firm even after it apologises, following outrage on Chinese social media

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The death toll in Italy during the pandemic has surpassed that for China, where the coronavirus was first discovered. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:35pm, 1 Apr 2020Updated: 9:25am, 6 Apr 2020

Italian prosecco producer Bottega Spa apologised to its Chinese customers and wine importers on Tuesday after its owner’s comments demanding China compensate Italy and the rest of the world for the economic damage resulting from the coronavirus caused a storm of outraged reactions on Chinese social media.

The incident suggested that tensions remain high over attempts to assign blame for the pandemic, during which more than 853,000 people have been infected and nearly 42,000 killed globally. The widespread economic damage is expected to push the world economy into recession this year.

The Chinese reaction also underscored the risk that foreign companies run of losing access to China’s large domestic market if actions or comments are seen as offensive by the public.

On Saturday, Italian newspaper La Stampa published part of a letter from Sandro Bottega – whose family has owned the winery and distillery in Treviso in northern Italy since the 17th century – raising the question of who was responsible for the outbreak. He pointed the finger at China’s “unhygienic rules” and silencing of whistle-blower doctor Li Wenliang, contributing to its failure to sound an early alarm about the outbreak, and suggested the country should pay compensation.

“It is fair to ask: how will the Chinese government compensate Italy and the world for the damage it has caused?” he wrote in his letter. He added that “the Chinese did not abide by hygiene rules and the Chinese government did not raise an alarm (in fact, they censored the doctor who issued the alarm, Li Wenliang); they are the people who do not respect people, animals and the environment, and their health and working conditions are almost incomparable with the Western world”.

The newspaper’s publication of the letter spread quickly on Chinese social media, causing an avalanche of critical comments. As a result, the firm’s main Chinese importers, including Telford Wine and Spirits (Shanghai) and Uita (Shenzhen), said that they would stop sales of all products from the Italian brand and cancelled all new orders placed with the firm.

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