The culture, sports and tourism minister, Kevin Yeung, on Monday said it was unacceptable that repeated mistakes were made by the chairwoman of the city's weightlifting and powerlifting body.

He also called on Josephine Ip of the Hong Kong, China Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association to publicly address her mistakes.

"It is unacceptable for the same mistakes to happen over and over. We hope that the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China can come up with a long-term solution so that similar incidents won't happen again," Yeung said.

"Because in both instances the chairwoman was at fault, she should explain to the public herself."

The association had apologised for a remark made by Ip during a competition on May 6. The event featured competitors from 13 countries along with the SAR and Chinese Taipei, and Ip said it had "lifters and officials from 13 countries".

Her remark drew condemnation from the administration on Friday, which called Ip's remarks "absolutely unacceptable".

"The statement is grossly inconsistent with the fact that delegations from Hong Kong, China and Chinese Taipei participated as regional teams. It gives rise to suspected violation of the one-China principle," a government spokesperson said in a statement.

The sports body explained the chairwoman made the blunder with the intention of simplifying a long sentence while giving a speech at the opening ceremony of the Asian Equipped Powerlifting Championship and the Asian University Cup.

On another occasion, she described Hong Kong as a "relatively small country", which the association said was a "slip of the tongue".

The minister said the administration would take appropriate action based on findings of the investigation to ensure people speaking on behalf of a sports association or the sector understood that every single word is very important.

The Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China, for its part, said it is reviewing the report submitted by the weightlifting and powerlifting body and would keep in contact with the government how to handle the matter.