‘Birds do not know borders’: UK birdwatching group cuts ties with Taiwan partner over secession fears

Decision by Cambridge-based BirdLife International shocks bird conservation community on island

Bird owners display pet birds in a park in Taipei, Taiwan. Taiwan's Chinese Wild Bird Federation (CWBF) protested being expelled from the world's largest bird conservation group, WildLife International, for political reasons (EPA)

A birdwatching group based in Taiwan has changed its name and assets to remove the word ‘China’ after its UK counterpart revoked its partner status.

The Taiwan Wild Bird Federation (TWBF), formerly the Chinese Wild Bird Federation (CWBF), had its wings clipped after it refused to sign documents promising not to promote Taiwanese independence and to remove from its name and stationery references to “Republic of China”, which is the official title of Taiwan.

The conservation group announced the name change on Friday to “avoid international confusion and allow us to expand ties with other groups in promoting the important work of global conservation”.

In a statement, TWBF insisted it is a “staunchly apolitical” group and would have not signed the documents anyway. It had been a partner of the Cambridge-based BirdLife International since 1996.

It released correspondence between TWBF and BirdLife International in the run-up to the announcement that the former would be removed from the BirdLife Partnership.

In the letters, published on TWBF’s website, BirdLife first approached the group in December last year asking it to stop using and remove “Republic of China” from all communications and materials and commit to not promoting the independence of Taiwan from China.

After several letters back and forth between Dr Woei-Horng Fang, president of TWBF, and BirdLife, the latter decided to cut ties with the Taiwan-based group altogether, stating that they were “unwilling to leave global politics at the door”.

“We are conservationists, not political actors,” said TWBF in a statement: “In fact, it was BirdLife who asked us to take a political stance by insisting we sign an overtly political declaration and by describing us as a ‘risk’ without ever clearly defining what that risk was.

“At all times, we worked to allay those concerns, yet our removal was insisted upon regardless.

“Birds do not know borders and conservation efforts are hurt when we are unable to work together,” added the group. It would continue working with other organisations and partners “who share our conservation goals”.

A private email to global partners seen by the Telegraph revealed that BirdLife got into a flap over fears that TWBF would promote Taiwan’s “secession” from China, which led to the decision to remove the group.

China has ramped up pressure on international groups and companies to refer to Taiwan as being part of China, which has angered Taiwan’s government and many of its people.

BirdLife said it made the decision unanimously with its Global Council “painfully and with sadness”, but justified that it was to “avoid wading into the perfectly understandable yet treacherous arena of geopolitical pressures and conflicts”.

According to Reuters, BirdLife CEO Patricia Zurita also issued a gag order earlier this month telling employees not to comment on the decision to expel TWBF.

The organisation faced criticism for the decision, which was branded as “insulting and upsetting” by other conservationists.

Richard Foster, a freelance bird guide working in Taiwan, said: “An, otherwise good, international organisation is blatantly doing the political work of China - yet at the same time accusing Taiwan’s apolitical bird society of being a political actor.

“Birds don’t know borders, and Taiwanese birders only hope our neighbours work for their protection.”

The Independent has contacted BirdLife for comment.