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Editorial: Flag-lovers of convenience

It is a disgrace that this country can't fly its own national flag at international events that it hosts.

Taipei Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), ought to be more ashamed about this than anyone. While he constantly professes to love the Republic of China (ROC), he fails to back up such words with action -- even when action is sorely called for.

Cases in point: the Asian Short Track Speed Skating championship, which was held on Nov. 5 and Nov. 6 at the new Taipei Little Dome, the International Auto Gymkhana and the Sixth Asian Youth Judo Championship which took place over the weekend. At all of these events, ROC flags were nowhere to be found. What's more, spectators were banned from bringing their own ROC flags to these events. Yet all the while, the flag of the People's Republic of China was on display.

We can't help but wonder about all the people who so fervently declared their love for the ROC at the mass pan-blue protests after last year's presidential election. Where did they all go? What happened to all the people who were so hypersensitive whenever someone dared to criticize the ROC flag?

Here we are, just a year and a half later, and despite the national humiliation at the Taipei Little Dome, we haven't heard the flag-lovers breathe a word of protest. The same fanatical partisans who rushed to Ketagelan Boulevard with ROC flags in hand dare not complain that their beloved flag has been banned at Taipei Little Dome -- while that of communist China flies high. Ma, who waxed patriotic about Taiwan's sovereign claim over the Diaoyutais (釣魚台), can't even uphold the nation's dignity at an event his own city hosts.

Attempting to defend his lame actions, Ma said that events held at the Taipei Little Dome were privately organized, and that the Taipei City Government had nothing to do with them except for leasing the venue.

Ma added that all international games held in Taipei must follow the rules set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which in a 1981 agreement stated that in return for being allowed to participate in international sporting events, the nation's sports teams must use the name "Chinese Taipei," and fly the "Chinese Taipei Olympic flag," and may not display the national flag or play the national anthem.

But if Ma really loves the ROC so much, couldn't he at least put up a fight against China's bullying? Are there no ways for him to try to maintain the country's national dignity, and the dignity of its flag?

Granted, under the IOC agreement, ROC flags aren't allowed to be displayed inside the stadium. But Ma could have put signs that read "Under Protest" at the entrances to the Little Dome. He could have found creative ways to maintain the country's dignity at international events, while letting such events proceed. But he chose not to.

In comparison with the pan-blues, who have stayed shamefully mute, pan-green politicians have lambasted Ma for humiliating the nation and corroding its sovereignty. Did the pan-greens have a change of heart and suddenly fall in love with the ROC flag? We think not. Rather, pan-greens saw the country's very dignity and autonomy at stake.

The furor over the national flag has made clear to all the rank hypocrisy of supposedly "patriotic" pan-blues. It is also a timely reminder of the need to rewrite the Constitution, so that Taiwan can become a normal country whose dignity is respected by all.
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