Philadelphia raises CCP flag over city hall for ‘diversity’
Philadelphia raised the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) flag over city hall last week for “diversity.”
The city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs raised the Five-Star Red Flag on Tuesday to “mark the anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and promote cultural exchange between Philadelphia and its Chinese sister city, Tianjin,” according to Newsweek. Philadelphia City Solicitor Renee Garcia said the city has conducted at least 20 flag-raising ceremonies for other countries as “expressions of cultural pride.”
Philadelphia has raised the CCP flag twice before, once in 2017 and again in 2019.
The ceremony, presented as a celebration of diverse immigrant communities, was sponsored by the Pennsylvania United Chinese Coalition and the Greater Philadelphia Fujian Hometown Association. Both organizations have documented ties to the CCP’s United Front Work Department, which coordinates influence and interference operations worldwide—including in the United States—to shape policy in favor of the CCP and to gain access to advanced foreign technology.
‘A tool for CCP propaganda’
Philadelphia’s CCP flag-raising ceremony came despite objections from the House Select Committee on the CCP. On September 24th, Committee Chairman John Moolenaar sent a letter to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, urging her to cancel the event.
“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,” wrote Moolenaar. “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. The city government of Philadelphia should cancel the raising of the national flag of a foreign adversary country.”
Moolenaar explained in depth how the sponsors of the flag-raising ceremony are linked to the CCP’s United Front network and emphasized that raising the CCP’s flag would “send the wrong message.”
“Raising the national flag of a foreign adversary country sends the wrong message to our citizens and lawful residents, especially those oppressed by the CCP regime,” he wrote. “The city government of Philadelphia should not allow itself to be exploited as a tool for CCP propaganda. To cancel the PRC flag-raising ceremony will not only demonstrate that the local government in the United States stands for U.S. values and national interests, but that it stands in support for the people of China who face the regime’s ruthless oppression and transnational repression.”
