As the newest TV presenter of Chinese TV station CETV, former football superstar David Beckham flies to China to tape a sports show. It required travels to China with likely stopovers in Hong Kong.
48 Hours in China
The former top player of English team Manchester United sparked an online debate after he posted on Facebook and Instagram that he enjoyed a “great 48 hours in China.” David Beckham was in Hong Kong to promote a life insurance company in the special administrative region that once was a British colony until it was turned over to China in 1997.
BBC reported that Beckham’s post reignited the question on the status of Hong Kong vis-à-vis China since the region has some degree of autonomy from the mainland. Because of the furor his social media post caused, Beckham changed it to “Great 48 hours in Shanghai and Hong Kong.”
However, some netizens agreed with the athlete’s first post since despite the autonomy, Hong Kong is still a part of China. Although Instagram is blocked in the mainland, some commenters who could be in China based on their use of simplified Chinese characters instead of traditional script that Hong Kong residents use, stressed that Hong Kong is part of China.
Fragile Chinese Hearts
One commenter, Shihan_58, hit not only Hong Kong but also Taiwanese who “have such fragile hearts that they can’t recognise that they are Chinese.” The netizen urged residents of the two territories to accept their fate and not even entertain thoughts about independence which is a hot topic in both regions.
David is not the first Beckham to commit a “gaffe” involving Hong Kong where his wife Victoria opened in 2016 an overseas shop. The former Spice Girl used simplified Chinese characters instead of traditional script which angered Instagram users in Hong Kong who consider the use of simplified characters disrespectful. She immediately changed the characters to traditional script.