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Presidential Flag (1929-1986) (Taiwan)

Last modified: 2020-07-11 by ian macdonald
Keywords: vice-president | president | taiwan |
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[Presidential flag]
Presidental standard (1929-1986)
image by Miles Li, 24 March 2014


See also:

Presidental standard (1929-1986)

Construction Sheet:
[Taiwan Presidential flag construction sheet]
image by Miles Li, 24 March 2014

The presidential flag is of particular historical interest. The story began in 1924, when the Army Officers' College was established in Whampoa, near Canton (Guangzhou), China, with Chiang Kai-Shek appointed as Commandant (headmaster). The College adopted a red flag, with the white sun on a blue disc at the centre of the flag. (This flag is still used by several military colleges in Taiwan.) When Chiang became the president of China in 1928, it seemed natural for him to adopt a presidential flag which reflected his connection with the Whampoa College. Hence a flag similar to the Whampoa College flag, but with the addition of yellow borders, became the presidential flag.
Miles George Li, 15 June 1999

The Presidential Flag was renamed "Commander-in-Chief Flag" on January 3, 1986. The yellow border became narrower and fringed.
Tai Yu-liang (Dai Yuliang), 19 March 2014


Vice President's standard (1947-1985)
(Position abolished)

[Vice Presidents flag]
image by Miles Li, 24 March 2014

According to the Government documents, this flag was declared on Sept. 15, 1947 and later instituted as an appendix to the Act of Ensign of the Republic of China Navy. The Act was invalidated on Jan. 3rd, 1986.
This insignia was abolished with invalidation of the act and no longer has been used thereafter.
Today, when the vice president represents the president to visit or inspect the troops, the President's Standard will be run up the flagpole.
Akira Oyo, 17 February 2014

The declaration for the flag is as below (see also Government document): http://gaz.ncl.edu.tw/detail.jsp?sysid=D4700387
The legislation draft for Act of Ensign of the Armed Forces (of the Republic of China) in 1985, where you can see this flag was deleted in the new Act.
This is the record of the legislators discussing about deleting this flag.
The outcome of the legislation, where you can see the flag is no longer instituted in the Act.
This is the current Act of Ensign of the Armed Forces (of the Republic of China).
Akira Oyo, 18 February 2014

Included in the draft Act were the proposed flags (all eventually adopted). This is followed by the old Acts of Ensigns of the Army (1953), Navy (1950) and Air Force (1948).
Two notable points on the draft Act: Firstly, as the draft Act points out, many of the flags as prescribed in the old Acts were long obsolete. (For example: to the best of my knowledge, the Army and Air Force rank flags were changed way back in 1960, whereas the Air Force badge was changed from yellow to silver in 1981.) Secondly, the new Act leaves the design of the rank flags to the Ministry of National Defense, the reason being that the Armed Forces hierarchy are too complex for the Act to cover completely. In practice, the basic format of the rank flags have remained largely unchanged since 1960.
Miles Li, 18 February 2014