Chinese Flag To Be Raised on White House Lawn
September 4, 2009 by Max M.
Filed under White House
They Haven’t Bought the White House — Yet.
The flag of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) will be raised on the South Lawn of the White House on September 20, 2009. According to reports, several Chinese associations had applied to hold a ceremony in front of the White House honoring the 60th anniversary of the Peoples Republic founded by Mao Tse Tung.
One wonders if that is the entire story, or if they are planting their flag because they have already put a sizable down payment on it and are staking their claim before the Cubans have a chance to plant their own.
In my quick research via the Internet I found the following: ‘District of Columbia: prohibits, on U.S. Capitol Grounds, a flag designed to bring into public notice a party, organization or movement.’ (See http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-law.html).
Granted, the U.S. Capitol and the White House are not synonymous. However, one could consider Mao’s gov’t both a “Party” and a “Movement”! Regardless of whether painting that brush stroke is accurate, I feel that displaying the flag of the People’s Republic of China on the White House lawn is totally inappropriate. Why would there be an anniversary party for the PRC’s founding allowed on property that is so clearly a symbol of our own country’s founding? I submit that it is disrespectful to display a flag of any nation on US gov’t properties, except on the occasion of a foreign head of state being present, and then only when the US flag is elevated above the flag of the visiting nation. Call me “old-fashioned”, but we cannot allow the lines of sovereignty to be blurred.