Flag of inconvenience

Once again, the political rivalry between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan has reared its ugly head in the world of computing. China considers Taiwan a rebel province, and frowns upon any symbolic representation of Taiwanese independence. So Red Hat, mindful of the size of the Chinese software market, removed the flag on the advice of its "internationalization group" because, according to Red Hat legal counsel Mark Webbink, "China does not approve of the use of any reference to Taiwan and could have blocked the product from being imported into China if the flag remained."