Bravo, lickspittles.
Most of the caption of the photo in the link above can't be read from the China Post's website, but the relevant part of it says:
Hey, mission accomplished. The Taiwanese at the Grand Hotel avoided embarrassing the envoy — by instead embarrassing themselves.
And their country.
In this however, they're only following the lead of Taiwan's president, Ma Ying-jeou, who has previously stated that he wouldn't mind being addressed as "Mr. Ma" (instead of "President Ma") by visiting Communist Party officials.
Query: When foreigners hear of Taiwanese denigration OF THEIR OWN FLAG ON THEIR OWN SOIL, why should they feel ANY SYMPATHY WHATSOEVER the next time China suppresses the ROC flag abroad?
All this reminds me of a story that appeared on The Drudge Report a few weeks back:
[…]
"When whistling of our antional anthem happens, all friendly games with the country concerned will be suspended for a period yet to be determined by the federation president."
Now granted, "What would the French do?" is not a question that frequently keeps me up at night. But I wonder if the French would be QUITE SO ACCOMODATING towards a thug from a foreign government that wanted to annex their country.
Perhaps while under Nazi occupation, they might. Which alone speaks volumes about Marshal Pétain Mister Ma and the grandees of the Grand Hotel.
UPDATE: A short backgrounder on the Grand Hotel here.
UPDATE (Nov 10/08): A postcard of the Grand Hotel site during the Japanese era can be found at the US Taiwan Defense Command blog.