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Flags to stay during PRC official’s visit

The government will make sure the sovereignty of the Republic of China (ROC) is protected during the upcoming visit of a top Chinese official, and national flags will not be removed from places the official is to visit during his stay in Taiwan, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday.

“I will stand my ground [on this],” Liu said in response to questions from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) and Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如) during a legislative question-and-answer session.

China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) is expected to visit Taiwan at the end of this month or early next month for talks with his local counterpart, Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤). They are expected to discuss issues ranging from the launch of cross-strait cargo charter flights and direct shipping links to the establishment of more direct cross-strait air routes.

Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said on Thursday he had heard from reliable sources that China had requested that no ROC flags be displayed at places Chen would visit.

“Will flags or [ROC founding father] Sun Yat-sen’s (孫逸仙) portrait be removed from venues’ normal decor for the reception of Chen Yunlin? And would you say no should such a request be made?” Pan asked Liu.

Pan said the government was bound by the Guidelines Regulating the Reception of People From the Mainland Visiting Taiwan for Exchanges (接待大陸人士來台交流注意事項), which was enacted in 1997.

Pan said an article in the guidelines stated that, in line with international etiquette, local hosts should make it clear to visitors from China that they should accept how the venues they visit are decorated, including Sun Yat-sen’s portrait, flags and photograph of the heads of state, and that hosts should turn down requests from Chinese visitors to alter such adornments.

Liu said he was glad to see that DPP lawmakers had such great respect for the ROC flag, and added that he would abide by the guidelines.

In a poll released by the DPP yesterday, 77.1 percent of respondents said President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should refer to himself as “President Ma,” not “Mr Ma,” when he meets Chen.

The president had previously said that he would not mind if Chen addressed him as “Mr Ma.”

Chen Chun-lin (陳俊麟), director of the DPP’s Public Opinion Survey Center, said the poll also showed that 67 percent of respondents disapproved of Ma saying that cross-strait relations were not “state-to-state” relations, but a special case of “area-to-area” relations.

The survey was conducted by telephone on Wednesday and Thursday, Chen Chun-lin said.

A total of 926 valid samples were collected in the survey, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA

Also See: TSU joins DPP in organizing Oct. 25 rally、EDITORIAL: Flags and the line in the sand
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