Apple Hides Taiwan Flag in Hong Kong

It's worth noting that the ROC flag (== Taiwan flag) was the flag flown all over the mainland before 1949. It's a part of mainland history as well.

I'm not supporting any political stance here, but just saying that it's a bit weird to ban a symbol that was part of the mainland's history as well, and on its own, carries more historical significance than just Taiwan independence.

Indeed, this flag has little, if anything, to do with "Taiwan independence".

But according to the PRC the ROC no longer exists (that's what they mean by "Taiwan is part of China" and I'm guessing that they see the flag used by people opposing the (PRC) government, so the standard procedure is to ban it.

I'm curious, though, if this comes from a specific demand or if, for example Apple has moved to releasing the same version of iOS in HK and the mainland (I'm guessing that the flag isn't in the mainland's version of iOS here, but I don't know for a fact).

The article mentions that you can still view and copy/paste the Taiwan emoji in Honk Kong, whereas you can't on the mainland.

While the US doesn’t ban the confederate flag, it is heavily discouraged and official government cannot use it. Lots of controversy over confederate symbolism too with one side arguing it is history, and another arguing it is racist symbolism.

Germany bans the swastika.

I do think it is well within the sovereign right of a nation to ban symbols of a competing government. In Taiwan’s case it is claiming itself as a rightful government to China, which is actually somewhat different than simply a historical symbol. Allowing it can be a tacit acknowledgement of legitimacy.

it's a lot more like if the confederacy won and banned the stars and bars in this case.

> if the confederacy won and banned the stars and bars in this case.

I think you meant the flag of (what would be) the preceding national government against which the Confederacy would have won, the Stars and Stripes.

The Stars and Bars is a different flag [0] that it would be odder (and not parallel to any construction of the PRC/ROC issue that I can see) for the Confederacy to ban.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_Sta...