Hawk or dove? Birdwatching world's feathers ruffled over Taiwan independence

Plea to remember birds do not know borders' amid spat between Taiwan's largest bird conservation group and UK-based BirdLife International

Birdwatchers around the world may have to decide whether they are hawks or doves when it comes to the thorny issue of Taiwan independence.

Long-running geopolitical tensions spilled into the conservation world this month after UK-based NGO BirdLife International severed ties with a Taiwanese group, after it refused to sign a declaration it would not advocate for independence - something the apolitical group maintains it never does anyway.