The renaming of BirdLife International’s Taiwan chapter from Wild Bird Federation Taiwan to the Chinese Wild Bird Federation has caused an uproar among some of Taiwan’s bird lovers, with the founding president of the Wild Bird Society of Penghu, Lin Chang-hsing (林長興), saying that he will call for members to resign from the Chinese Wild Bird Federation.
Apart from refusing to pay yearly membership fees to the Chinese Wild Bird Federation, Lin said he would invite fellow bird enthusiasts to set up a new federation for wild birds using the words “Taiwan” or “Taiwanese.”
When the Taiwan chapter was first established, it used the English name Chinese Wild Bird Federation to join BirdLife International. However, given the word “Chinese” often led people to think the Chinese Wild Bird Federation belonged to China, the name was changed to Wild Bird Federation Taiwan in 2001, while its Chinese name remained unchanged as “Wild Bird Federation of Republic of China (ROC) (中華民國野鳥學會).”
Starting in 2005 however, China reportedly started pressuring BirdLife International to stop using the Chinese characters Zhonghua Minguo (中華民國), meaning ROC, in the Chinese name, and “Taiwan” in the English name. It was reported that China said if BirdLife International did not get the Wild Bird Federation Taiwan to stop using that name, it would mean it supported Taiwan “and a divided China.”
Wild Bird Federation Taiwan was firmly against changing its name, but at the start of this year, it yielded to BirdLife International’s request to have its Chinese name changed from Zhonghua Minguo Yeniao Xuehui (中華民國野鳥學會) to Zhonghua Niaohui (中華鳥會) and that its English name be changed back to “Chinese Wild Bird Federation.”
Lin yesterday said most of Taiwan’s bird lovers are solely interested in bird conservation and dislike politics. However, with the federation being pressured into changing names by China and BirdLife International, it was inevitable that many people in the international community would mistakenly think that the “Chinese Wild Bird Federation” belonged to China, he said, adding that one who supports Taiwan would not stand for this.
Lin said he hoped all Taiwanese bird lovers who do not wish to see the chapter turned into an organization controlled by China would resign from the chapter and establish a new group called “Taiwanese Wild Bird Federation” (台灣鳥盟).
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
The US’ joint strikes with Israel on Iran dismantled a key pillar of China’s regional strategy, removing an important piece in Beijing’s potential Taiwan Strait scenario, said Zineb Riboua, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Middle East Peace and Security. In an article titled: “The Iran Question Is All About China,” Riboua said that understanding the Iran issue in the context of China’s “grand strategy” is essential to fully grasp the complexity of the situation. Beijing has spent billions of dollars over the years turning Iran into a “structural strategic asset,” diverting US military resources in the
RSS