KOROR (Palau), Sept 1 — Australia said Tuesday the Pacific bloc will decide for itself who attends its annual summit, after China raised objections to Taiwan’s presence on the sidelines.
The 18-member Pacific Islands Forum is being hosted by Palau, which invited its diplomatic ally Taiwan to attend as an aid partner, along with China and other non-Pacific countries.
China’s Pacific envoy Qian Bo told reporters on Monday there would be “consequences” for Taiwan foreign minister Lin Chia-lung’s presence in Palau.
Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory.
Chinese officials have also warned Pacific leaders and ministers not to attend side events in Palau at which Taiwan is participating, a Pacific source at the meeting told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“This is primarily a gathering of Pacific family,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told journalists when asked about the Chinese comments.
“The Pacific Islands Forum determines what happens here, not any other country.”
Albanese also rejected China’s warning to travellers that tourism-dependent Palau was unsafe.
“This is a paradise here in Palau,” he said.
Palau is one of only three Pacific islands that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not Beijing.
Five leaders out of the 18 forum members will not attend this year’s forum, officials say, sending lower ranked ministers to represent them instead.
Representatives of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands said the absences would not affect the meeting’s outcomes.
The Pacific summit is seeking to take joint action on drug crime and climate change.
“From time to time the Pacific Islands Forum has had issues with people not participating — everyone is participating at this forum,” Albanese said.
Taiwan is among a long list of aid partners invited to the Pacific meeting along with China, Singapore, Japan, Britain and the United States.
“Our partners are welcome to sail with us but they do not choose our destination,” Palau’s President Surangel Whipps said at the opening ceremony Monday, urging Pacific unity.
Among the topics on the table is China’s test launch in July of a ballistic missile that landed in the Pacific Ocean near Taiwan-ally Tuvalu.
“That is not acceptable, it is not the act of a friend,” Albanese said. — AFP
