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).
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
President William Lai (賴清德) today condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, yesterday. A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratulatory letter to athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) from the Ministry of Education, and then argued with media employees. “Why are you taking our things?” the media employees asked. “Does that say Chinese Taipei?” the two Chinese reportedly said. Following the incident, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) wrote on
RSS