Philadelphia Raises Flag for CCP Anniversary Despite Protests, Criticism

Philadelphia raised the flag of communist China at City Hall on Sept. 30 despite criticism and protests from human rights activists and legislators.

The event, co-organized by a group with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was meant to commemorate the CCP’s National Day.

On Oct. 1, 1949, the CCP declared its rule after a viciously fought civil war. Over the next few decades, the regime would become responsible for more deaths than both World War I and World War II combined.

The Tibetan Association of Philadelphia organized a protest at the event, calling on the mayor to remove the flag immediately.

“The red flag of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not a symbol of culture; it is the emblem of a brutal, totalitarian regime,” Tsering Jurme, president of the local association, said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times.

“This regime is responsible for the persecution and murder of millions, the destruction of thousands of monasteries, and the ongoing cultural genocide of my people in Tibet and the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. To fly their flag here in our Philadelphia city hall is to legitimize terror and betray the dissidents who seek freedom.”

The Campaign for Uyghurs had also written to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker on Sept. 26 to urge the city to cancel the event.

“The red flag of Communist China is not a symbol of culture or unity,” said Campaign for Uyghurs founder Rushan Abbas, whose sister and aunt were arrested by the CCP in retaliation for Abbas’s advocacy.

“It is the banner of a totalitarian regime that the U.S. government and numerous parliaments have determined is committing genocide.”

Abbas’s sister, Gulshan Abbas, a retired doctor, was charged with so-called terrorism and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Rushan Abbas said in a statement: “Under this flag, the CCP has built an extensive system of mass surveillance, separated millions of children from their families, sterilized women, erased religion, and targeted ethnic and faith communities, including Uyghurs, Christians, Tibetans, Hong Kongers, and practitioners of Falun Gong.

“It imprisons innocent people like my sister, fuels a fentanyl crisis that has killed millions of Americans, and spends billions spreading propaganda and infiltrating civic institutions abroad.”

This is not the first time that Philadelphia, site of the Constitution’s signing, has raised the five-star flag of communist China. It held a similar event in 2019, as did Boston and San Francisco. New York City raised the flag in 2023.

A CCP-linked group raised the flag in 2005 in Los Angeles to support the so-called “reunification” of China and Taiwan. At the time, editorials in local publications noted that the last time the flag had been raised in the city, in 1984, it was torn down immediately by onlookers.

The Philadelphia event drew criticism from state and federal lawmakers when it was announced.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano said it was a “terrible” idea to raise a flag that represents the CCP.

“Raising a red flag over Philadelphia with a star in the corner is meaningless, forgetting the Cultural Revolution and the almost 100 million people killed in the various persecutions over the years when the communists took over, when [President of the Republic of China] Chiang Kai-shek fled [to Taiwan] in 1949,” Mastriano previously told The Epoch Times.

Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) said on social media that the decision was “shameful.”

“The cradle of liberty flying the banner of tyranny,” he wrote on Instagram. “This is the regime that jails dissidents, censors speech, and wages genocide against its own people. And now its flag will wave over the birthplace of American independence?”

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who chairs the House Select Committee on the CCP, had written to the mayor, urging her to reverse the decision.

“The Five-Star Red Flag, embodying the totalitarian government led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), represents a regime that is persecuting spiritual people of all faiths, including the genocide of Uyghur Muslims,” the letter reads.

“It is a government that actively subsidizes the precursor chemicals used to manufacture fentanyl, which has killed or harmed millions of Americans. It is a Communist Party-State that is diametrically opposed to American values and working to undermine our interests worldwide.”

Moolenaar also highlighted other concerning ties between Philadelphia and the CCP.

Philadelphia is currently in a sister cities partnership with the city of Tianjin in China. While these partnerships purport to support cultural exchange, lawmakers at the state and federal levels have determined that the Chinese regime has made use of these partnerships to advance the CCP’s strategic goals and views.

The city is also home to the Pennsylvania United Chinese Coalition and the Greater Philadelphia Fujian Hometown Association, co-organizers of the flag-raising event.

Chinese “hometown” organizations originated as associations of immigrants from the same region, but they are now officially part of the CCP’s united front network. The united front is the regime’s global effort to influence overseas opinions on the regime, and these groups are often seen to be actively promoting the CCP’s agenda and participating in transnational repression.

The Pennsylvania United Chinese Coalition has also hosted united front groups and spoken openly about advancing CCP interests, Moolenaar told the mayor.

The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.