Foreign Ministry spokesperson speaks out about SEA Games organizing committee's error in displaying Vietnam map.

Vietnam has commented on the serious mistakes made by the Thai organizing committee at the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games.

Vietnam affirms its indisputable sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos.

On December 11th, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ' regular press conference, the press questioned the fact that on the evening of November 9th, the Thai Organizing Committee displayed a map of Vietnam that omitted the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and Phu Quoc Island at the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang, Vietnamese authorities have been in discussions with the SEA Games 33 organizing committee regarding the error in the depiction of the Vietnamese map in the opening ceremony.

"Once again, Vietnam affirms its indisputable sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos in accordance with international law," Ms. Hang asserted.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson comments on SEA Games organizing committee's map display error.

As Thanh Nien newspaper reported, during the opening ceremony of the 33rd SEA Games, in a performance titled "The Connection of the Seas," host country Thailand sketched a map of Vietnam, but this map did not include the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos and Phu Quoc island. This is a huge and unacceptable mistake by the SEA Games 33 organizing committee.

Also at the opening ceremony, the organizers mistakenly displayed the Indonesian flag as the Singaporean flag when projecting images of previous SEA Games onto the big screen.

Recently, Thailand mistakenly displayed the Vietnamese flag as the Chinese flag during the draw for the Southeast Asian U.19 futsal tournament. At the 33rd SEA Games, the official fan page for the women's futsal schedule displayed the wrong flag (Thailand displayed the Vietnamese flag, while Indonesia displayed the Lao flag). Before the match between Vietnam U.23 and Laos U.23 on December 3rd, the organizers experienced a sound system malfunction, forcing both teams to sing their national anthems without accompaniment. The organizers later apologized for this incident, but did not apologize for the flag misdisplay.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nguoi-phat-ngon-bo-ngoai-giao-len-tieng-ve-su-co-btc-sea-games-sai-sot-hien-thi-ban-do-viet-nam-185251211152724909.htm