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.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS