The Taipei City Council urged the city government to issue a report within a week on the flag-ban feud stemming from an international soccer event earlier this month.
In a council meeting on Tuesday, DPP City Councilor Chiang Kai-shih (
In the lead-up to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women's Championship, held in Taipei from Dec. 4 to Dec. 11, soccer fans waved Taiwan's national flag in the stadium but were quickly told not to do so by police officers. Verbal and physical conflicts erupted between police and the flag-waving fans.
At a press conference held by DPP City Councilors Duan Yi-kang (
The city government has insisted that the tournament was held in accordance with the rules set by the International Olympic Committee and that Taiwan cannot fly its national flag when it participates in Olympic events under the name "Chinese Taipei."
At the press conference, Duan questioned Ma's patriotism, even though the city government said it was simply following international conventions for the event.
Taipei City Police Headquarters Director Wang Cho-chun (王卓鈞), during an interpellation at Tuesday's council meeting, said police were only responsible for maintaining order and security inside the stadium, not for persuading spectators not to wave the nation's flag.
"Neither Ma nor I ordered or requested police officers to do that," Wang said emphatically.
At the council meeting, Chiang asked the city government to find out whether the order to crack down on flag-waving came from Ma, Wang or another police official, or whether police officers acted of their own accord.
The DPP councilor also asked whether the people of Taiwan are deprived of the freedom of carrying the national flag on their own soil and he wondered what rules or regulations the ban was based on.
Officials from the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council took a different view from that of the city.
The nation's international status is actively repressed by China and the so-called "Olympic rules" are a compromise accepted by Taiwan that allows its athletes to compete at international events, said an official who requested anonymity.
But fans at sporting events are not restricted by Olympic rules, the official said, and spectators are absolutely free to wave the national flag if they want to.
"Why can't the city government direct laws in a more favorable direction for our fans and safeguard the right to fly our flag?" the official asked.
In frequent exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, some organizers automatically remove ROC flags or omit the titles of government officials in order not to provoke Beijing's ire. This incident demonstrates Taiwan's serious identity problem, the official said.
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