Isaac Cheng, a former Hong Kong pro-democracy activist now based in Taiwan, said both incidents were likely genuine mistakes with no political intent.
“The Hong Kong government’s fierce reaction has … made it so high-profile, saying they will send a national security team to investigate whether or not broadcasting the wrong national anthem violates Hong Kong’s national security law,” Cheng told RFA.
“This kind of wolf warrior diplomacy holding countries to account for their errors looks ridiculous to the international community.”
Cheng said reports that the government had asked Google to tweak its search results rankings suggested that they wanted to hide just how popular the Hong Kong protest anthem footage was.
“The high search rankings of ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ tell us about how highly this song is regarded by Hong Kongers,” he said. “This song came out of the 2019 protest movement … about sacrificing their lives and freedom for the city they love.”
Cheng said the song is still regularly played wherever Hong Kongers hold rallies or protests overseas.
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