Koror City, Palau: Tension between China and Taiwan is threatening to overshadow a key meeting of Pacific leaders, as Beijing lodges complaints and threatens retaliation over the decision to allow the self-governing island to have such strong representation at this year’s event.
The Pacific Island Forum (PIF) leaders meeting began in Palau on Monday night, with at least five leaders skipping the summit amid suspicion Beijing was trying to undermine the gathering.
Sitting not far from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-Lung attended the opening ceremony of the forum and will participate in several events over coming days, infuriating China.
Speaking after the opening ceremony, China’s special envoy for the Pacific Qian Bo said he had “serious concerns” about the level of access being granted to Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as an integral part of its territory.
“Taiwan is not a dialogue partner for the forum, so we have serious concerns,” he told reporters.
“We have made our position very clear to the government of Palau and the secretariat.”
China, the United States and other countries serve as official dialogue partners of the PIF, while Taiwan attends as a development partner.
Palau is one of a handful of remaining countries in the world that still recognise Taiwan, rather than Beijing, as the legitimate government of China.
Saying he believed China had the support of most Pacific nations over the issue, Qian said that “there will always be consequences” when China is unhappy about a decision.
“I mean, you know this is objected by all, so this should not have happened. So we think it’s very inappropriate to do so.”
Reflecting how sensitively China approaches Taiwanese representation on the global stage, Qian flagged he would raise the issue in his address to the forum on Tuesday.
In his speech opening the event, Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jnr made clear he did not want competition between countries that are not official PIF members to derail the event.
“We welcome friends and genuine partnerships, yet attention is not the same as respect,” he said.
“Our partners are welcome to sail with us, but they do not choose our destination.
“The Pacific agenda must be driven by us, for us, and the forum must remain the political home in which that agenda is shaped.”
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale was supposed to hand over the chairmanship of the forum to Whipps, but he had to hastily return home to deal with a no confidence motion lodged by a cabinet colleague.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said it was “highly suspicious” that Wale, who has taken a more sceptical approach to Beijing than his most recent predecessors, had been forced to return home at such an important time for the region.
The leaders of Kiribati, Vanuatu, Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia are also expected to skip this year’s event.
Solomons Foreign Minister Rick Houenipwela said partner nations “are welcome, and their support is valuable, but they should help us realise our ambitions, not define them”.
“Friendship and threat cannot travel in the same canoe,” he said.
“Our ocean is not an empty space for rivalry.
“It is our home, and its peace, security, and future must be shaped first and foremost by Pacific peoples.”
Whipps told this masthead ahead of the meeting that he was hoping the region would present a “united front” about China’s surprise test-firing of a nuclear-capable ballistic missile in the Pacific last month.
However, resistance from Kiribati and Nauru have blocked a forceful joint statement from the PIF.
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