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EDITORIAL: Bizarre
banner overshadows Ma
National flags are a strong symbol of statehood and national pride. Each is
uniquely designed to represent a country’s identity, with colors and emblems
purposefully chosen that embody the history and common values shared by its
people.
People familiar with Taiwan and the Republic of China’s (ROC) history must also
be acquainted with the design of the ROC national flag: a red background with a
navy blue canton bearing a white sun beaming with 12 rays. “Blue Sky, White Sun
and a Wholly Crimson Earth (青天,白日,滿地紅)” is how Taiwanese commonly refer to it.
It was therefore a shock to many to see a bizarre-looking flag hanging on the
side of the Presidential Office auditorium during President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九)
swearing-in ceremony on Sunday.
The flag featured a blue background in the upper half and red background in the
bottom half with a giant white sun in the center. With the color blue in Taiwan
generally associated with the pan-blue camp and the color red associated with
the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) China — the combination of colors led some
to interpret the flag as symbolic of “Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]-CCP
cooperation.” Others, reminded of the “one country, two areas (一國兩區)” idea
touted by Ma, questioned whether the banner was meant to represent the “Taiwan
area.”
Quick to dismiss the complaints, the Presidential Office said the flag was
merely an innovation, with a Ministry of the Interior official saying that apart
from the front of the auditorium, where the national flag was displayed, the
items hanging on the side walls were just decorations. Meanwhile, some KMT
lawmakers said people should lighten up and not attach any unnecessary political
connotations to the decorations.
Flabbergasting would be a major understatement in describing the Presidential
Office’s explanation. It is simply inconceivable that the highest representation
of the nation’s statehood would take such a cavalier attitude to something as
momentous as the inauguration of the head of state.
Innovation is a popular catchword today in Taiwan. However, there is also a
proper place and time to display the products of innovation and one must
consider whether the execution conforms to the level of solemnity called for by
a given occasion. For a ceremony as important as a presidential inauguration,
one to which many foreign dignitaries are invited to witness the assertion of a
nation’s statehood — not to mention the millions at home and abroad in front of
the TV or computer screens watching broadcasts of the ceremony — solemnity is
key, as is reverence to the manifestations of sovereignty. The ceremony must be
respectful of the legal authorities bestowed upon Ma as the ROC’s 13th
president.
Article 6 of the Constitution states that: “The national flag of the Republic of
China shall be of red ground with a blue sky and a white sun in the upper left
corner.” The National Emblem Act (中華民國國徽國旗法) governs the display of the ROC
national flag.
Ma has repeatedly trumpeted himself as the defender of the Constitution and
lectured officials to “proceed in all things in accordance with the law,” and
yet at such a crucial moment he deliberately flaunted a bizarre mish-mash of a
banner for the world to see.
The flap over the strange banner has served as a reminder that the KMT has long
seen the national flag as a representative of its control of the nation. After
all, the navy blue canton with the 12-rayed sun is the flag of the KMT, which is
why pro-Taiwan groups and others have long advocated a new national flag.
So much for all Ma’s talk about increasing the ROC’s visibility. In one fell
swoop, a symbol representing the ROC is overshadowed by a banner that represents
neither the ROC nor Taiwan. What it does symbolize is Ma’s complete indifference
to the trappings of the office that he occupies and the national pride of the
people he is supposed to represent.
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