Chinese vice consul behind decision to paint over kids’ Taiwan flag artwork, says Aussie mayor

The Rockhampton mayor says that the artwork had to be removed in order to ensure the success of the beef expo

Remember how it was revealed last week that city councilors in Australia’s beef heartland had painted over the Taiwan flag artwork that a pair of high school kids had composed on a culturally-diverse bull statue? Well, it turns out that a Chinese vice consul was apparently behind this rather bizarre cover-up.

In order to celebrate “Beef Australia,” a giant national beef expo held once every three years in the city of Rockhampton in Central Queensland, students from local schools were asked last month to paint designs on six bull statues that were to be erected along the riverbank at the center of the town for visitors to admire.

One of these bulls would stand on a plaque that read: “This bull celebrates the cultural diversity of the Rockhampton community.” It was painted with a fish design and many of the fishes were then decorated with national flags from around the world — including those of Italy, Japan, and Brazil.

Encouraged to paint “their culture,” a pair of Taiwan-born students decided to decorate two of these fish with the Taiwanese flag.

However, when the statue reappeared in time for the festival, the two fish that had been emblazoned with the Taiwanese flag had been painted over.

The regional council’s commercial arm, Advance Rockhampton, took responsibility for covering up the flags, explaining that it had not wanted to upset China — one of the principal buyers of Australian beef —and arguing that it decision was in line with the Australian government’s adherence to the “one China” policy.

However, Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow has revealed that the move was not made in anticipation of hurt feelings on the part of visiting Chinese officials, as had originially been assumed and implied, but rather on the direct order of one of them.

In her account of the saga that was published by the local The Morning Bulletin on Sunday, Strelow writes that it was a Chinese vice consul in Brisbane, Zhou Li, who contacted one of the regional council members with photos of the fishy Taiwan flag artwork. Strelow describes Zhou as a “regular visitor to Rockhampton.”

After receiving the messages from the vice consul, Rockhampton council officers quickly contacted the students’ school to explain the problem. When a solution was not immediately offered, council staff members moved in and proceeded to paint over the fish.

“We were in a highly charged political minefield,” Strelow writes. “With the world about to converge on our doorstep, and our most important event only days away, this was no time for an international incident.”

Of course, in the end, that is exactly what it turned into. Still, even with the benefit of hindsight, Strelow says that though she wasn’t personally involved in the matter and was not briefed about it beforehand, she wouldn’t have recommended that the council handle the situation any differently.

“Our goal was to ensure that Beef Week was a success without a diplomatic incident,” she writes to conclude her account. “Mission accomplished. Now to manage the fall out!”

With its considerable political and economic might, China has managed to pressure not only local Australian officials into adhering to the “one China” policy, but major international companies as well.

This week, American retailer Gap issued an apology over a t-shirt design which featured a map of China that did not include Taiwan. The shirt had been spotted by an outraged shopper in Canada before making its way to the Chinese internet.

Gap’s was just the latest in a string of apologies that have been issued this year by foreign companies who hurt China’s feelings by listing Taiwan as a separate country on their official websites.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China sent a notice last month to 36 international airlines demanding that they remove any reference on their websites or in other promotional materials that suggest that Taiwan is a country separate from China.

Last week, the White House responded to this request by calling it “Orwellian nonsense,” while Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned China against trying to apply political pressure on private companies.