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Two days after a display of anger and strong words over a 2019 protest song played at a rugby match in South Korea instead of the Chinese national anthem, Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing camp suddenly went quiet.
The central government’s more restrained response over the incident prompted the dialling down on the noise, analysts and pro-Beijing veterans said, adding it indicated mainland Chinese authorities were not keen to let the blunder affect improving Sino-Korean relations seen only in recent months.
While some top advisers to the government defended the necessity of a police probe and a strong rebuke, an international relations scholar urged caution amid complicated geopolitical situations, as the incident, if escalated, could place Beijing in an awkward position and spark bilateral tensions.
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‘Hong Kong should complain to rugby world body, ban Korea over song blunder’
The rugby game in Incheon on Sunday came under the spotlight after the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong”, linked to the 2019 social unrest, was played instead of “March of the Volunteers” as the city’s team took to the field for the final against the host nation.
The Hong Kong government denounced the mistake in a strongly worded statement hours after a Facebook clip of the saga went viral, with city leader John Lee Ka-chiu ordering a police probe. Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki also expressed strong opposition during a meeting with the Korean consul general on the same day.
Rugby body admits it failed to send anthem after Hong Kong protest song blunder
Various pro-Beijing lawmakers waded into the blame game the same day, with New People Party’s Dominic Lee Tsz-king staging a protest at the South Korean consulate in Hong Kong, condemning the culprits and urging Seoul to assist the city’s police probe into potential breaches of the national security law.
Junius Ho Kwan-yiu, known for his hawkish stance, suggested disbanding the Hong Kong rugby team and accused the players of “not responding at all” when the song was played, while lawmakers Michael Luk Chung-hung and Maggie Chan Man-ki said the incident constituted an insult to all Chinese people and demanded serious punishment for those involved.
Their strong reactions, however, stood in stark contrast with the central government’s short and mild response, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning saying on Monday afternoon that she had “noted that the Hong Kong SAR government has issued a statement in response and the organisers have corrected and apologised for the mistake.”
Since then, many of the lawmakers have steered clear of making public comments on the incident.
Lau Siu-kai, vice-president of semi-official think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said the central government’s muted response proved Beijing did not want the incident to be escalated to a national and diplomatic level, especially at a time when Sino-Korean relations had been improving under the new leadership in South Korea. Lau said some Hong Kong lawmakers might not be aware of the context.
“The pro-Beijing camp in Hong Kong is very indignant and sensitive to matters related to Hong Kong independence, thus they might have vented their anger out of instinct, without considering much of the bigger picture,” he said.
He added that they were still sensible for choosing to quiet down after more evidence surfaced showing the error was committed by two interns of the Korea Rugby Union. “They may only voice their opposition again if investigations find there could be national threats in the incident,” Lau said.
The relations between China and South Korea have been fraught in recent years amid geopolitical tensions. There has been a thaw in relations between China and South Korea, an ally of the United States, with President Xi Jinping recently meeting its leader Yoon Suk-yeol at the G20 summit in Bali. During the talks, Xi said China and South Korea’s economies were “highly complementary” and that it was necessary to deepen cooperation in the fields of hi-tech manufacturing, big data and the green economy and to accelerate the negotiation of free trade agreements.
China is South Korea’s largest trading partner, while South Korea is China’s fourth-largest export destination.
A political heavyweight with strong connections with the mainland told the Post that the matter was a “storm in a teacup” and not worth elevating to the national level.
A veteran lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said legislators’ initial responses showed that “ultra-loyalists want to score points from the central government” but failed to read the room on improved bilateral relations.
“They were being populist. But from the foreign ministry’s response, even Beijing wants to downplay it,” he said. “When your relationship with your neighbour is improving, why would you want to scold your neighbour’s son in public?”
What is Hong Kong’s national anthem law?
Another lawmaker also said the harsh words initially put out by the lawmakers would not help the city’s global reputation, as they were quick to utter accusations of national security breaches without solid evidence.
Asia Rugby, the organiser of the tournament, admitted on Tuesday it had failed to send a recording of the Chinese national anthem to their partners in Korea, and insisted that it was an honest mistake with no “malicious” intent.
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On Wednesday, members of the government’s decision-making body the Executive Council and some lawmakers defended their earlier vehemence, even if others moved on and shrugged off their initial anger with no explanation.
Exco member and lawyer Eliza Chan Ching-har said it remained necessary for the government to follow up seriously. “The city’s government should do what is right. The Hong Kong police need to continue with their investigation as this will help us know more about what happened,” she said, adding the local government and the ministry of foreign affairs could respond in different manners.
Another Exco member, Ronny Tong Ka-wah, who earlier insisted the incident was surely not a careless mistake, also said his allies “did not overreact”. A proper probe was still needed as one should not take the rugby unions’ explanations at face value, according to him.
New People Party’s Dominic Lee argued he was not blaming the South Korean government. “The Hong Kong government was the first to issue a strongly worded statement ... and then different political parties were just asking the Korean government to look into it,” he said, adding he was only relaying demands when he headed to the consulate.
Pro-Beijing heavyweight Tam Yiu-chung also said while he understood central authorities might have their own considerations on how to react, the incident was “still very wrong” and the responsible parties should be condemned.
International relations expert Wilson Chan Wai-shun of Chinese University said public figures should handle such matters with care, as any action targeting consulates or demands for investigations by foreign agencies might trigger overseas media and entities to perceive the saga as a diplomatic affair.
“I won’t say the overreactions by some have affected China-South Korea relations in this case,” he said. “But this might make people cast doubt on the contributions of Hong Kong to Beijing’s foreign policies.”
Additional reporting by Natalie Wong
More from South China Morning Post:
- Hong Kong should file complaint to rugby world body, push to ban South Korea from hosting events, sports chief says over protest song blunder
- Asian rugby body admits it failed to send copy of Chinese national anthem to Korea for Hong Kong team use after protest song blunder
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