The international body in charge of competitive freediving has apologized for removing Taiwan’s flag from a live competition broadcast. Taiwanese freediver Hou Yi-ming was the only competitor shown without a national flag on the seventh day of the 27th AIDA World Championship.
The Taiwan branch of the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA) says its understanding is that AIDA, the organizers, were blocked from livestreaming the event to audiences in China. That is why the organizers took the unilateral decision to remove Taiwan’s flag from the broadcast on September 28.
AIDA Taiwan has lodged a protest with the organizers, calling the decision to remove Taiwan’s flag “careless”. It says the organizers should have considered other ways to bypass potential Chinese censorship.
In a gesture of solidarity with Taiwan, AIDA branches from at least ten other countries have asked for organizers to remove their national flags. They include Japan, Russia, the United States, and Australia.
On Friday, AIDA apologized for the incident on its official website. It says it was unprepared to deal with the block on the livestream to China, which took the organization by surprise. AIDA says it will learn from its mistakes and set different streams in the future.