No ROC flags huh? Well, why weren’t you there waving them ac and z? What a perfect opportunity to show your faith to the ROC…and you missed it. tsk tsk tsk 
KMT Flag 青天白日旗 Blue Sky with a White Sun Flag
ROC Flag 青天、白日、滿地紅 Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth
So it is also correct to state the ROC flag incorporates the KMT symbol similar to the Australia Flag. Some posters point to Taiwan politics which has made the ROC flag a symbol of inter-party controversy.
Because the 326 rally was suppose to be a political protest to bring international attention to Taiwan, the Taiwan flag been could have been used as a symbol of solidarity of Taiwan against the ASL. To most casual observers abroad all we see is a bunch of Asians in the street using some English to voice their discontent. To the Taiwanese community it looked like pan-Green affair.
I wished more people burned the ROC flag or gave it equal face time to the Chinese flag…sheesh.
There is a huge difference. The Aussie flag, keeps the Union Jack because it still has political ties to the UK. It incorporates the flag of another coutnry. The ROC flag incorporates the flag of a political party.
Country - political party: see the difference?
Brian[/code]
And that’s better?
AU - ROC: see the difference?
[quote]And that’s better?
[/quote]
Yes. It’s a country which still has stong political ties, including the same nominal head of state.
Hey, it was your analogy. Are you now saying that it’s not relevant? 
Brian
You make a good point, I was saddened when the communists imposed their HKSAR flag on our country. They ignored our rich history and our original flag that gave us character. If I had it my way the Hong Kong flag would still have the Union Jack and would have no references to China or red in the flag at all.
I support Taiwan independence and I hope Taiwan does the same when the time comes for Hong Kong
The Union Jack makes red in the flag.
Why, oh why, don’t more people here argue as calmly and rationally as Brian? The forum would be so much improved.
I rest my case. It even calls moderators names! Sheesh.
I have to completely agree with Bu Lai En’s sentiments about the ROC flag. In any country with a formerly dictatorial and still not obviously reformed and democratic party such as the KMT, you wouldn’t want any linkage at all between the two flags, and yes, the ROC flag has been appropriated by the pan-Blues. If I were Taiwanese, I wouldn’t acknowledge the ROC flag as mine. So my country would be flagless.
In my contry, Mejico, the formerly dictatorial and wholly corrupt PRI party, now out, took the national flag’s colors
and incorporated them into its own flag,
and was severely criticized for doing so. In fact, it was actually a violation of the law there. Just an interesting aside.
On the other hand, as AC and ScottSommers point out, if we had also seen ROC flags there (probably held by blues), it would have been a good show of national unity.
Great idea!
Wait a minute, did I actually just agree with [i]everybody?[i]
Oh, no…
phew! 
[/i]
What? Are pan-greens banned from appropriating the ROC flag or something? Don’t be ridiculous. They are welcome to appropriate the ROC flag anyway they want to show their patriotism. The ROC flag is not the KMT flag. They do not look any more similar than Australia’s flag with UK’s flag. If you can tell that Australia and UK are two different countries by their flag, there should be no difficult to tell that the ROC and the KMT are two different things. Pan-greens want to mix it up because they want to get rid of both the KMT and the ROC. Get with the program.
For 's sake, give it up already. Australia-Britian relationship is COMPLETELY different than the KMT-ROC relationship. How many ppl have pointed it out to you? A colony chose to incorporate the founders flag, versus a political party forcing it upon the people, most of whom I might add were not part of the country (ROC) when it was formed.
As for appropriation of symbols, yes, there is nothing stopping the Pan-Greens or TI camps from appropriating the ROC flag to symbolize what they want. EXCEPT for:
a) the symbol already has heavily ingrained meanings and history which symbolize exactly the opposite of what the Pan-green and TI camps want.
b) There’s rabid bunches of ppl like you and AC out there that would say “Hey look those ppl are trying to steal/change our symbol!” or “Hey those guys are idiots! Using the ROC flag to represent TI!! Haha…” Which is also similar to how foreign media and statesmen would react. Seeing as that said groups are already stymied at the complexity of One-China involving two different China’s, I totally agree that a symbol different than the ROC flag should be used to lessen the confusion.
Now since you weren’t at the march, you wouldn’t know that most “flags” were not flags and simply banners with Democracy, Peace, and Protect Taiwan on them. I noticed a distinctly large amount of white, that symbolizes peace if you didn’t know, and not green in photos. Not all political party flags as you assume. I did see a large group of TSU supporters (and accompanying party flags), but then 500 people don’t represent one million now do they? And ROC flags were not absent, I’ve seen photos with several therein. Not lots, but not absent.
As for the picture of the large Japanese flag, if you can read Mandarin you would see that it says the Japanese (specifically the small group of I assume students from Japan) support Taiwan. Not about some Japanophile LTH shiat peddled elsewhere. Several other American, a French, and a Canadian flag had similar messages around them. Some people need to learn what context means.
Oooh Satellite TV, is the top one not the flag of the Aboriginal Union (or whatever the correct moniker is, sorry) representing the Aboriginal version of aus… No idea on the second one…
But this brings up a slightly relevant parallel. The Aborigines using the Aussie flag versus the TI camp using the ROC flag. Discuss/agree/flame/deny.
[quote]For 's sake, give it up already. Australia-Britian relationship is COMPLETELY different than the KMT-ROC relationship. How many ppl have pointed it out to you? A colony chose to incorporate the founders flag, versus a political party forcing it upon the people, most of whom I might add were not part of the country (ROC) when it was formed.
[/quote]
In case you forgot, the KMT and the ROC shared an origin in the Tong Meng Hui, so as a founding party of the ROC, it has as much merit to have some shared features with the ROC flag as the union jack on the Australian flag. The ROC flag was not “forced” on anyone unless you are talking about the aboriginal Taiwanese. Then maybe you are also forgetting about the British Australian flag being “forced” on the Aborigines in Australia, who did not “choose” to have any founders of the colony over with their union jacks.
Unfortunately, if you attended an international sports event featuring Taiwanese athletes (held in nearly any country, including the ROC), and did choose to wave an ROC flag, it would be confiscated and you would be ejected. The “Chinese Taipei” butterfly would be OK, though.
The PRC has succeeded in making the ROC flag illegal or not permitted in most international events, from trade shows to academic conferences. This is true even in countries that you would never expect to regulate free spech in this way, such as the US. Taiwanese companies operating abroad can not even display an ROC flag inside their own offices in many countries (Thailand, for example), or put it on business cards or brochures.
I did see a few ROC flags at the march, but not many. I can understand that, with “president” Lien Chan going to China to “negiotate” on behalf of the Taiwanese people, a flag closely associated with the old regime might not be popular with people who are not interested in joining the PRC.
Why would greens who are generally anti-KMT want to use a flag that is derived from the flag of the KMT?
It is derived from the KMT flag.
So, zeugmite, do you think that it is right for the flag of a country to be derived from the flag of one of its political parties? I don’t.
What would you think if, for example, the DPP decided to change the ROC national anthem to the party song of the DPP, just changing a few words here and there, or adding another verse. It would be a travesty.
Brian
Instead of asking to change the RoC flag. Why not change the KMT flag instead? So there is no longer an association between the party and the state. Oh wait I forgot, the “change the flag” crowd don’t actually care about any associations, they just can’t stand the flag because its a Chinese flag. The political complaint that the KMT and the RoC flags are similar is only a canard, the intent is actually nothing more than promoting separatism.
No, I think that the flag should be changed because it is derived from the flag of a political party, and we are no longer a one party state. You’re misreading other motives into my complaint.
Brian
As for the Aussie flags , the top one is the Aboriginal flag; the bottom one the Eureka Stockade.
when I lived Downunder I use to respond to the ockers calling me Yank by pointing out that at least we Canucks had our own flag- not one that says “we’re a little outpost of the UK in the Southern Hemisphere.” 