The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday expressed support of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in upholding the dignity of the national anthem.

The backing from the central government comes after Google is reported to have refused to place China's national anthem at the top of the search results for keywords of "Hong Kong" and "national anthem" as requested by the HKSAR government.

"The national anthem is a symbol of the nation and represents national dignity," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. "We support the government of the HKSAR to firmly uphold the dignity of the national anthem."

The internet company has the obligation to deliver correct information to the public and stop wrong information from spreading and misleading the public, said Wang.

The spokesperson's remarks were echoes of what HKSAR Chief Executive John Lee has said.

"It is a matter whether a company acts responsibly and respects the importance of the national anthem in the global context," Lee said on Tuesday at a briefing.

The HKSAR's security chief Chris Tang on Monday also criticized Google for the refusal, saying it was "a double standard."

"It is known to all that as long as you pay Google for ads, you can put the information you want other people to see in a higher position," Tang said, refusing to accept Google's claim that search results were generated by an algorithm with no human input.

He countered that Google has taken the order from the European Union's top court to remove the data from online search results if users can prove it is inaccurate.

The HKSAR government's move came following a recent series of mistakes at international sports events where a song associated with the anti-government forces in 2019 was played instead of China's national anthem "March of the Volunteers," and it emerged that the wrong song routinely appears at the top of the page when people search for "Hong Kong" and "national anthem."

(Cover: File of China's national flag and the flag of the HKSAR on the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong, China. /Xinhua)