The question of whether changes should be made to the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) party emblem became the subject of controversy yesterday, with the Executive Yuan promising to revise the National Emblem Law (中華民國國徽國旗法) to allow the changes.
The KMT's emblem's similarity to Taiwan's national emblem -- and therefore the national flag -- became a hot topic of debate on Sunday night after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) demanded the KMT change its emblem within three months to eliminate the confusion between the two symbols.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The KMT said yesterday that Chen's real problem was with the national emblem -- in keeping with his pro-independence tendencies. Party officials said the KMT would not give into pressure.
The Executive Yuan, however, said that it was looking for ways to revise the law to make sure the KMT falls in line.
The KMT's emblem features a 12-pointed white sun on a blue background symbolizing the sky.
The flag has the white sun-blue sky in its upper-left corner, with a crimson background.
While the government has no plans to change the flag, said Cabinet Spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), the Executive Yuan will soon start work on revising the National Emblem Law.
Clarifying the president's position, Chen Chi-mai said the government is not going to change the flag but will instead see to it that the National Emblem Law is amended within three months to pave the way for it to legally require the KMT to change its emblem.
According to the National Emblem Law, the national flag belongs to the government of the Republic of China and should not be used "commercially" by anyone else, Chen Chi-mai said.
He also noted that the Trademark Act (商標法) stipulates that the national flag, national emblem or any pattern that is similar to the two cannot be used as logos or trademarks for any organization.
Based on this, he said, the KMT has been using its logo illegally.
KMT spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) said the party didn't need to wait three months to give its answer.
"We can answer right now -- we will not change our party emblem. After political power changed hands in 2000, [the administration] changed the nation's emblem to the outside world. So Chen's goal should be to change the nation's emblem, not the party emblem," Chang said at the KMT's headquarters in Taipei.
"If Chen is unhappy that the national emblem is similar to the party emblem, then we welcome the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] to embrace the national emblem in its party emblem," he said.
He said that since the DPP became the ruling party, the government has been slowly phasing out the use of the national emblem on official documents and its use by government agencies such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The KMT legislative caucus also said that the president should be taking issue with the national emblem instead of the KMT's -- even though it called his remarks mere election rhetoric.
At a press conference in the legislature yesterday KMT caucus whip Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) pointed to a poster displaying four different emblem and/or flag designs and called on the president to choose a new national emblem.
"All these flags have been proposed or used in the past. We give Chen Shui-bian three days to make a choice," Huang said.
The choices included the KMT party emblem, the national flag, a red, yellow, blue and white flag with black horizontal bars, and a flag similar to the current one but with a green background instead.
According to the Government Information Office's Web site, the five-color flag was used by the Shanghai army before 1911 to represent the five main ethnic groups of China.
According to Huang's research office, the flag with the green background was proposed in 1951 by Aboriginal groups as a possible national flag design.
Huang said that the difference between the national and KMT's emblems was clear because of the different size of the 12-pointed suns.
Huang said the KMT would not try to stop the government from changing the national emblem. He warned that the government would have to take full responsibility for the consequences of such a move, which the outside world might view as pro-independence.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS