Proposed flag of Taiwan

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Several proposals for a flag of Taiwan have been initiated by supporters of Taiwan independence to replace the flag of the Republic of China as the national flag flown over Taiwan. Supporters of Taiwan independence object to the use of the flag of the Republic of China since it was designed by and is closely associated with the Kuomintang.[1] However, no single flag has been established as the symbol of the independence movement, and moderate supporters of Taiwan independence, such as the Democratic Progressive Party, have accepted the flag of the Republic of China for the time being and have not pushed for a new flag. The Flag of the Republic of China in current use is defined in the 6th article of the Constitution of the Republic of China, and amending the Constitution requires, since the 2005 amendment, a referendum under the following conditions:

Article 12 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China (2005 reform) states that:

Amendment of the Constitution shall be initiated upon the proposal of one-fourth of the total members of the Legislative Yuan, passed by at least three-fourths of the members present at a meeting attended by at least three-fourths of the total members of the Legislative Yuan, and sanctioned by electors in the free area of the Republic of China at a referendum held upon expiration of a six-month period of public announcement of the proposal, wherein the number of valid votes in favor exceeds one-half of the total number of electors. The provisions of Article 174 of the Constitution shall not apply.

Thus, a wide bipartisan support is needed to change the official flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Some supporters of Taiwan Independence seek the flag change as part of a larger change to replace the Republic of China Constitution that was imposed on Taiwan by the Chinese Kuomintang following World War II.

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[edit] Prominent proposals

Vexillological symbol A proposal for a flag of the Republic of Taiwan, "hearts-in-harmony", designed by the Reverend Donald Liu in the mid-1990s, perhaps one of the more prominent designs.

In 1996, a "New Name, New Flag, New Anthem" campaign was launched to rename the Republic of China, replace the flag of the Republic of China, and the National Anthem of the Republic of China, all of which were brought to Taiwan when the Kuomintang government retreated to the island in 1949.[2] After a contest in which 187 different flags were entered, the "hearts-in-harmony flag" emerged as the winner. The green field was to symbolize the natural beauty of the island and the need to protect the environment; the white in the Canadian pale was to symbolize the purity of the people on the island and the desire to preserve the natural beauty; and the device in the centre was to symbolize four hearts in harmony, representing the four population groups on the island: aborigines, Hakka, Hoklo, and mainlanders.

Some Chinese nationalists criticized the design as being reminiscent of the Imperial Seal of Japan where a chrysanthemum is present and therefore a promotion of Japanese militarism. The "hearts-in-harmony flag" has emerged as the most well known proposed flag of Taiwan, but it has not gained acceptance from the mainstream Democratic Progressive Party.

Vexillological symbol A proposal for a flag of the Republic of Taiwan by the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign[3]

More recently, the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign raised its version of the proposed flag of Taiwan in front of the Presidential Building in front of a crowd of about 500 (mostly Taiwan Solidarity Union supporters) on September 8, 2005—a date it proclaimed "Taiwan's Independence Day" to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco in 1952 in which Japan relinquished its claim to Taiwan.[4] This flag, which had been featured in smaller rallies elsewhere in Taiwan, featured three horizontal stripes in blue, white, and green and a red circle in the middle along with the characters "Country of Taiwan" (台灣國). The flag was meant to symbolize history of Taiwan: the red circle to represent Japan, the blue to represent the KMT, and green to represent the DPP. That flag was unique in that other flag designs struck out the color blue altogether.

[edit] Prospects and consensus

While there is a vocal campaign to replace the ROC flag, and independence leaders such as Lee Teng-hui have held multiple mass rallies calling for a new flag, the prospects for replacing the flag of the Republic of China are not high given that changing the flag requires a constitutional amendment that implies wide bipartisan support and a referendum under the conditions of the article 12 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China; that the current flag has a huge amount of support among pan-Blue coalition supporters and grudging acceptance among moderate independence supporters (not changing the flag of the ROC is one of the elements of the Four Noes and One Without declaration made by President Chen Shui-bian); and because changing the flag might cause political tension with the People's Republic of China.

While green has emerged as the color of Taiwan independence and can be seen ubiquitously in pro-independence rallies, no flag has achieved consensus among the various groups promoting Taiwan independence as the symbol of an independent Republic of Taiwan. Unlike some other prominent separatist movements, Taiwan does not have a historical or local flag to be used as a separatist symbol. The flag of the short-lived Republic of Formosa is unsuitable, since that republic was declared by Qing loyalists and designed as a tributary state in a failed attempt avert Japanese annexation in 1895. The local flag of Taiwan, the flag of the Republic of China, is unsuitable as it is already a symbol of Chinese nationalism and associated with Chinese reunification.

At rallies of the pan-Green coalition, green campaign banners and party flags are commonly waved and the ROC flag is rarely seen, but the various proposed flags are never seen in unison.[5] A dilemma arose when Lee Teng-hui was scheduled to speak at the National Press Club in Washington, DC in 2005: while National Press Club conventions would have called the ROC flag to be flown to reflect the nationality of the speaker, pro-independence groups objected to using the flag of the Republic of China while the National Press Club's only other alternative, a Democratic Progressive Party flag, was considered unsuitable as Lee was not a DPP member.[6]

[edit] In popular culture

The hearts-in-harmony flag in the newspaper The Guardian in 2009.

The hearts-in-harmony flag was a prominent part of the plot in the episode "A Change Is Gonna Come" of the TV series The West Wing.[7]

The hearts-in-harmony flag was used to illustrate the entry for Taiwan in a World Factfile supplement of the British newspaper the Guardian on 2009-04-25.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Editorial: Taiwan needs a flag to call its own, Taipei Times, Nov 16, 2002, Accessed Jan. 9, 2006.
  2. ^ A new flag for a new Taiwan, New Taiwan, Ilha Formosa, September 2, 1996. Accessed January 9, 2006.
  3. ^ Wang, Min-wei. "Attendants at a Taiwan Republic flag-raising ceremony organized yesterday by Peter Wang, leader of the 908 Taiwan Republic Campaign, wave flags reading Taiwan Republic. Taipei Times. Retrieved on January 22, 2009.
  4. ^ 'Independence' marked in flag-raising celebration, Taipei Times, September 9, 2005. Accessed January 9, 2006.
  5. ^ Taiwan political parties, Flags of the World, May 28, 2005. Accessed Jan. 9, 2006.
  6. ^ Lee scheduled for press club speech in US, Taipei Times, Aug 31, 2005. Accessed Jan. 9, 2006.
  7. ^ West Wing unofficial continuity guide: #607 "A Change Is Gonna Come"

[edit] See also

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