Taipei condemns China over pressure on the Pacific Islands Forum to remove references to Taiwan from the communique, calling the intervention “rude,” but which did not influence leaders’ decisions, according to Reuters.
The communique released on Friday from the 18-nation summit included a section headed “Relations with Taiwan/Republic of China,” stating “Leaders reaffirmed the 1992 Leaders decision on relations with Taiwan/Republic of China.”
As a result, following an angry response from the Chinese envoy, the post went down from the forum’s website the same evening, and a new document with references to Taiwan came out on Saturday morning. However, the ministry said the revised communique did not undermine Taiwan’s status in the forum or exclude it from future participation.
Taiwan condemns China’s rude and unreasonable intervention and irrational behaviour that undermines regional peace and stability and calls on all like-minded countries to pay close attention to China’s actions, the country’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
When the communique issued initially on Friday, China’s special envoy to the Pacific Islands Sian Bo told reporters in Tonga that the reference to Taiwan must be a mistake as China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state relations.
Diplomatic allies of Taiwan in the Pacific have reduced in recent years as China has boosted its development finance offerings. Of the forum’s members, only three countries have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, while 15 recognise China, a major infrastructure lender to Pacific island countries where Beijing is seeking to increase its security presence.
“Any attempt by the Taiwan authorities to brush up their sense of presence by rubbing shoulders with the forum can only be self-deceptive,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
