<p>Skirting a controversy that has ignited from Virginia to Orange County, Oakland backed away Tuesday from becoming the latest California city to recognize the flag of vanquished South Vietnam.</p>
<p>The City Council was scheduled to consider a resolution making the yellow flag with three red stripes the "official flag of the Vietnamese community of Oakland," to be flown on city property and at city-sponsored events instead of the red flag with yellow star of the existing Socialist Republic of Vietnam.</p>