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Chinese national anthem
Hong KongPolitics

Hong Kong radio broadcasters to begin playing national anthem every morning in compliance with new law

  • The new national anthem law requires radio stations to begin broadcasting March of the Volunteers, a practice TV stations have long followed
  • The radio stations are expected to begin playing the song before their 8am newscasts sometime in mid-November

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RTHK and the city’s other radio broadcasters are expected to start playing the national anthem on a daily basis in mid-November. Photo: Dickson Lee
Natalie Wong
Hong Kong’s three major radio stations will start broadcasting the Chinese national anthem every morning by mid-November at the earliest to fulfil a requirement under a new law enacted to criminalise disrespect of the song.

The symbolic move by the city’s licensed radio broadcasters came five months after the passage of the national anthem law in Hong Kong, which requires them to promote March of the Volunteers and punishes anyone who insults the song.

The city’s public broadcaster, RTHK, and privately-owned Commercial Radio, confirmed on Saturday that they would play the national anthem before their 8am newscasts on a daily basis, with the former due to begin on November 16 and the latter around the same time. Tycoon Li Ka-shing’s Metro Radio will play it during the same time slot, but has yet to fix the start date, a spokesman said.

The headquarters of the broadcaster Commercial Radio in Kowloon Tong. Photo: Google
The headquarters of the broadcaster Commercial Radio in Kowloon Tong. Photo: Google

“It’s a necessary move to fulfil the legal requirement,” said Amen Ng Man-yee, a spokeswoman for RTHK, adding that it was also in line with the charter of the public broadcaster, which requires its programmes to deepen Hong Kong people‘s understanding of “one country, two systems” and cultivate a sense of citizenship and national identity.

Ng also told the Post that the practice, to be implemented across all six of RTHK’s channels, came after months of negotiations with Home Affairs Bureau officials and was announced in a management meeting last week.

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