Vietnam Sports Delegation cooperates with Embassy to handle map errors in SEA Games opening ceremony

After receiving information about the error in displaying the map of Vietnam during the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games, the Vietnamese sports delegation proactively coordinated with the diplomatic agency in Thailand to find a suitable solution.

Information will be available tomorrow on how to handle the serious mistake at the SEA Games opening ceremony.

The Vietnamese sports delegation said that they have officially contacted the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand to coordinate the handling of the incident in which the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee displayed a map of Vietnam but did not include the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, Phu Quoc Island and several other islands of Vietnam in the opening ceremony on the evening of December 9. Official information on how to handle the situation will be released tomorrow (December 10).

The map display error occurred during the artists' performance when the organizers projected special effects onto the stadium. Only from a high angle of the TV camera could this error be clearly seen.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

The special effects show a map of Vietnam but lack the islands and archipelagos under Vietnamese sovereignty .

SCREENSHOT

The Vietnamese sports delegation is closely coordinating with the diplomatic representative agency in Thailand to ensure that all feedback and exchanges with the 33rd SEA Games Organizing Committee are carried out through the right channels, in accordance with international practices and to ensure the seriousness of the issue. The Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand is expected to work with the Vietnamese sports delegation with relevant organizing units to request a clear explanation of the cause, solution and responsibility from the Organizing Committee.

The level of errors at SEA Games 33 is increasingly serious.

The map incident at the opening ceremony is the latest in a series of problems related to images, national flags and national identity in the early days of the 33rd SEA Games. Previously, the SEA Games 33 fanpage mistakenly posted the Vietnamese national flag as Thailand and the Lao national flag as Indonesia in the women's futsal competition schedule; the Organizing Committee was also found to have mistakenly displayed the Indonesian national flag as the Singaporean national flag when introducing the 1997 SEA Games at the opening ceremony. These errors have not been officially explained or apologized for.

Meanwhile, the incident of no music during the National Anthem ceremony between U.23 Vietnam and U.23 Laos on December 3 was the only incident for which the SEA Games 33 Organizing Committee publicly admitted its mistake.

Vietnam sports delegation at the opening ceremony of SEA Games 33

Photo: Nhat Thinh

However, the map error missing Vietnam's archipelagos is considered much more serious because it is directly related to territorial sovereignty. Watching the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games via livestream, many viewers quickly realized this error.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/doan-the-thao-viet-nam-phoi-hop-dai-su-quan-lam-ro-sai-sot-ban-do-trong-le-khai-mac-sea-games-185251209223958908.htm