《TAIPEI TIMES》 Manila says ‘sorry’ for using Taiwan’s logo at China event

ONE CHINA POLICY? The logo for Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense was displayed instead of the one for its Chinese rival, but no one noticed right away

/ AP, MANILA

The Philippine Department of National Defense has apologized to China for the “grievous, but purely unintentional mistake” of using Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense logo during a ceremony where the Chinese ambassador turned over thousands of assault rifles to the defense chief and top military commanders.

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The department yesterday said that Philippine Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana issued an official apology to China through Beijing’s ambassador over the “technical lapse” in the ceremony on Thursday, which was covered by the media at military headquarters.

The department did not say in its statement which nation owned the logo it displayed instead of the emblem of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense.

However, a Philippine official said it was Taiwan’s, adding that Chinese officials called attention to the faux pas.

The wrong logo was printed on a huge banner that hung prominently over the heads of Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua （趙鑑華）, Lorenzana and Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Eduardo Ano.

It took a few days before officials discovered the error.

During the symbolic handover ceremony of 3,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition, “the Department of National Defense committed a grievous, but purely unintentional mistake of using a different logo on a banner to represent the Ministry of Defense of the People’s Republic of China,” the department said.

It stressed that it and the military adhere to the “one China” policy that recognizes only the People’s Republic of China as the sole sovereign state.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES