South Vietnam flag flap causes uproar in Sundre
SUNDRE - The former flag of South Vietnam belongs in a museum, not flapping in the wind over a small town in Alberta, the Vietnamese Embassy says, as the rhetoric heated up in a bizarre diplomatic spat.
The embassy shot back after the mayor of Sundre, Alta. said he hopes to again raise the yellow-and-red-striped flag of pre-communist South Vietnam.
The flag had flown as part of a collection of international flags in the town for 23 years. Most officials remained oblivious to the fact it wasn't the current flag of Vietnam.
South Vietnam fell to the Communist north in 1975. Recently, someone in Sundre complained about the protocol breach, prompting the town to haul it down.
But Vietnamese-Canadians who fled their native land after the Communist takeover have fought back, and convinced the mayor the flag should fly again. The embassy is threatening to officially protest any decision to fly the flag.
CanWest News Service - July 27, 2007.
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