Flag of the Republic of China sovereign independent country of the Republic of China (ROC) to the island of Taiwan. On the mainland, the communist forces of Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China and adopted their own national flag. On October 23, 1954, the National Emblem and National Flag of the Republic of China Act () was promulgated by the Legislative Yuan to specify the size, measure, ratio, production, and management of the flag. While public display of the ROC flag is generally frowned upon, and may even lead to arrest in the PRC, Cambodia was the first country to outlaw it officially. In
Politics of the Republic of China community has led to a "political apartheid" which "harms the human rights, interests, and dignity of Taiwan’s people.". Despite the differences between Taiwan and mainland China, contact between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has grown significantly over the past decade. The ROC has continued to relax restrictions on unofficial contacts with the PRC, and cross-Strait interaction has mushroomed. Since 1987, when the ban on travel to mainland China was lifted, Taiwan residents have made more than 10 million trips to mainland China. The ROC Bureau of Foreign Trade estimates that indirect trade with mainland China reached about US$61.639