The Pacific Islands Forum has removed references to Taiwan from a communique issued on Friday after the region’s annual leaders meeting, following complaints by China’s envoy, in what the government in Taipei condemned as a “rude intervention”.
The bloc of 18 nations includes three members with diplomatic ties to Taiwan, and 15 members who recognise China, a major infrastructure lender to Pacific Islands countries where Beijing is seeking to increase its security presence.
China says Taiwan is one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state relations, a position the democratically governed island strongly disputes.
A communique released on Friday on the forum’s website included a section headed “Relations with Taiwan/Republic of China”, stating “Leaders reaffirmed the 1992 Leaders decision on relations with Taiwan/Republic of China”.
The communique was removed from the website on Friday evening after an angry response from China, and a new document was posted on Saturday morning with the references to Taiwan removed.
The forum’s secretariat did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry expressed anger at China’s actions.
“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,” it said in a statement.
However, the ministry noted that the joint communique as published did not undermine Taiwan’s status at the forum nor preclude it from participating in the future.
A development partner to the forum since 1993, Taiwan sent Tien Chung-kwang, its deputy foreign minister to Tonga, to meet its three Pacific allies, Palau, Tuvalu and Marshall Islands.
China’s special envoy to the Pacific Islands, Qian Bo, reacted angrily on Friday and told reporters in Tonga the reference to Taiwan in the communique “must be a mistake”, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Nikkei reported.
Qian had lobbied during the week for Taiwan to be excluded from the forum’s official functions, the Chinese embassy’s website showed.
“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 said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific have reduced in recent years as China has increased offers of development funding. Nauru switched ties from Taiwan to Beijing in January, while Kiribati and Solomon Islands, which both now host Chinese police, switched in 2019.
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