Taiwan revives ROC red, white and blue for Double Tenth day as DPP loses legislative sway

Taiwan’s official Double Tenth festivities will have a distinct traditional “China” theme this year, the first since the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its eight-year grip on the island’s legislature.

The logo for the island’s official events and publicity materials is in red, white and blue, the colours of its flag, and features a red plum blossom, the symbol of the Republic of China (ROC), the island’s official title.

Under the DPP’s sway, the plum blossom and ROC references were conspicuously absent from the official designs and the logo was mostly in green and yellow, colours associated with the DPP camp.

Double Tenth Day, celebrated on October 10, commemorates the start of the 1911 revolution that led to the fall of China’s Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and the founding of the ROC.

The event has been celebrated in Taiwan since the Nationalists, the Kuomintang (KMT), fled to the island in 1949 following their defeat by the communists in the Chinese civil war.

Since the DPP took power in 2016, it has consistently omitted the ROC element from the celebration’s main visual designs, opting instead to highlight Taiwan’s identity.