Chinanews.com, December 3 (Xinhua) According to comprehensive Hong Kong media reports, on the 2nd, at the Asian Classic Fitness Championships held in Dubai, the wrong national anthem was broadcast again.
At the awards ceremony that day, when Lian Weizhen, an athlete from Hong Kong, China, won the gold medal, the assembly mistakenly played the song "Hong Kong Independence" as the Chinese national anthem. It was not until Lian Weizhen made a "T" pause gesture that the assembly realized the mistake , followed by the correct national anthem.
Lian Weizhen made a "T" gesture to stop the wrong broadcast of the national anthem.
Image source: Image of Asian Weightlifting Federation on Hong Kong Wenhui.com
Today (3rd), the Hong Kong SAR government expressed opposition and strong dissatisfaction with the Asian Classic Fitness Championships held in Dubai on the 2nd. The organizer made a mistake when playing the national anthem at the awards ceremony.
On the social platform, some netizens said: "Make mistakes again and again, and we can no longer accept the unintentional mistakes of the staff. We must investigate the incident and thoroughly find out the cause!"
Previously, the Hong Kong Sports Federation and Olympic Committee (Hong Kong Federation and Olympic Committee) issued the "Guidelines for Hong Kong athletes and teams to play the national anthem and hoist the regional flag when participating in international sports events" to all sports associations under its jurisdiction, which stated When athletes and teams participate in international sports events, if they find that there is an error in playing the national anthem or hoisting the regional flag, they must use the "T" sign to express their opposition to the organizer, requesting the suspension of the event and immediate correction.
The Hong Kong Federation and Olympic Committee also provides kits with the correct national anthem and regional flags to the sports associations, and the team leaders assigned by the associations will lead them to attend international competitions and hand them over to the organizers for use.
According to the Hong Kong Federation and Olympic Committee's preliminary report, the athletes and team leaders responded immediately at the awards ceremony in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Hong Kong Federation and Olympic Committee, prompting the organizer to stop the ceremony and make corrections.
The SAR government affirmed Lian Weizhen's performance in safeguarding the dignity of the country on the spot.
The Hong Kong Association and Olympic Committee has also indicated that it will conduct an in-depth investigation.
The SAR government attaches great importance to the incident and has requested the Hong Kong Association and Olympic Committee to submit a report as soon as possible and follow up the incident seriously.
Bei Junqi, honorary vice president of the Hong Kong Association and Olympic Committee, said today that the Hong Kong athletes and team leaders had followed the guidelines during the incident, and had made pause gestures when they heard the wrong national anthem.
As for why similar incidents keep making mistakes again and again, he believes that many times it involves the issue of downloading songs from the Internet. He suggested that the relevant international associations must take the broadcasting of the national anthem seriously, and there should be no more mistakes.
Not long ago, on November 13, the Asian rugby sevens match held in South Korea also had an accident where the national anthem was broadcast incorrectly. The organizer allegedly mistakenly played the "Hong Kong Independence" song as the Chinese national anthem, which caused strong dissatisfaction from the Hong Kong SAR government.
Afterwards, some netizens discovered that in the clip of Hong Kong vs. Portugal released by the YouTube rugby channel RugbyPass, the title of the song "Hong Kong Independence" was displayed in the subtitles when the Chinese national anthem was broadcast before the game. The same wrong subtitle also appeared in the game between Hong Kong, China and Tonga on March 23.
The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Li Jiachao, expressed his dissatisfaction and opposition to the incident at the time.
After the successive incidents, the Hong Kong SAR government has asked Google to put the correct national anthem on top.
According to Hong Kong media reports, Deng Bingqiang, director of the Hong Kong Security Bureau, said that when some Internet search engines searched for keywords related to Hong Kong and the national anthem, a song closely related to the 2019 "black violence" and "Hong Kong independence" was displayed in the front position. The SAR government has lodged serious representations with relevant Internet search engine service providers, requesting that the correct national anthem be placed on top, and the suppliers indicated that they would follow up.
On November 21, Sun Dong, director of Hong Kong's Bureau of Innovation, Technology and Industry, made a solemn representation to the Internet company Google.
The Office of the Chief Information Officer of the SAR government also requested in writing that the service provider face up to the situation and put the correct information at the top of the search results. The company concerned stated that it had confirmed receipt of the request and would follow up.