A mysterious incident in Papua New Guinea has put Chinese public diplomacy to an unusual test: is the suspicious object discovered at a construction site in the capital Port Moresby a military artillery shell --- or an unusually heavy wine bottle?
The affair began last Friday when local police arrested four Chinese nationals following the discovery of a mysterious 32-kilogram object at a building site in the city. Authorities opened an investigation into the possibility that it was live ammunition, with local police commissioner David Manning describing the find as "a very concerning discovery."
But Beijing offered a far more reassuring explanation: the Chinese embassy in the country issued a statement Tuesday declaring that the object poses no danger whatsoever, as it is merely "a shell-shaped wine bottle."
The statement, published on Facebook, failed to convince online commenters. One wondered what kind of wine bottle weighs 32 kilograms, while another pointed to an additional detail that undermines the Chinese version: the object bears no label indicating it is a wine bottle.
Meanwhile, Australia's ABC network reported Wednesday, citing undisclosed sources, that the object is a Chinese Type 59 artillery shell with a 130mm diameter, which failed to detonate and contains explosive material and a detonator.
The local Post Courier newspaper also reported that police had previously rejected the suggestion that it was merely a dummy item.
The Chinese embassy, for its part, insisted that smuggling an illegal military shell from China to Papua New Guinea is virtually impossible. According to the embassy, China enforces some of the world's strictest weapons control laws and is considered one of the safest countries globally.
Either way, while authorities in Papua New Guinea are trying to understand how a military shell ended up at the construction site, China has already provided a definitive answer: there's no weapon here, just a wine bottle.
