Vietnam flag display on council agenda

FLAG OF THE Republic of Vietnam on display in a parade in Little Saigon (Flickr photo).

A resolution reaffirming a previous recognition of the flag of the Republic of Vietnam – commonly known as South Vietnam – as the only official flag of Vietnam will be on the agenda of Tuesday’s meeting of the Garden Grove City Council.

Council members Phat Bui and  Thu-Ha Nguyen are requesting that the council again proclaim – as a previous council did in 2003 – that the yellow banner with the three red horizontal stripes in the center – be considered the proper Vietnamese flag.

The resolution would also oppose the display of the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam on city property.

Officially, the United States Department of State recognizes the Hanoi regime as the government of that Southeast Asian nation of over 92 million people.The flag of the SRV is red with a yellow star in the center.

Display of the flag has been controversial. The most prominent event took place in 1999 when a Westminster merchant displayed the Communist flag and a picture of Ho Chi Minh – leader of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War – triggering protests which attracted as many as 15,000 people.

The council meets at 6:30 p.m. in its chambers in the Community Meeting Center, 11300 Stanford Ave.