Package Maintainers Flags policy

[Andrew Haley]

Mathieu Bridon (bochecha) wrote:
>> And then your next question is "does the Chinese gov't really care about a
>> linux distro having a Taiwanese or Tibetan flag in some programs it ships?"
>> and the answer to that question is yes, very much.
>>
>> So, of course does this mean we are siding with china? No, we're not siding
>> with anyone, that's the whole point.
>>
>> Flags mean a lot to a lot of people. They carry a lot of patriotic crap
>> w/them.
> 
> But what is the official internationally recognized status of Taiwan ?

There is no World Governement that decides whether independent countries
exist.  However, Taiwan does not claim to be a country independent of
China: the Taiwanese KMT, expelled from Beijing in by Mao, still claims
to be the legitimate ruler of *all* China.

> If that's a part of china, then it's not an actual country, then we
> can remove its flag.
> 
> If that's an independent country, then it has a flag, and we can use it.
> 
> I really wonder why we are trying to solve those geopolitical
> international issues. Those are for the governments and the UN to
> solve. They agree on a list of officially recognized countries, and we
> use it.

The UN does not decide what is an "officially recognized country".  All
it can do is decide whether to admit a country as a member.  This is
not the same as being a sovereign state, which in practice depends on
being recognized by other nations.

Andrew.