Pacific leaders remove Taiwan from communique after ‘angry’ China objects

Pacific leaders in Tonga for a summit removed references to Taiwan from a group communique after complaints from China.

The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) saw Australia, New Zealand, and 16 Pacific island countries or territories attend the Tonga summit. While China is not a part of this group, it attends some events as a “dialogue partner”.

A joint communique released on Friday included a section titled “Relations with Taiwan/Republic of China” which stated that PIF leaders “reaffirmed the 1992 Leaders decision on relations with Taiwan/Republic of China”, a reference to when Taiwan became a PIF "development partner".

China’s special envoy for the Pacific, Qian Bo, called for changes, with Nikkei Asia reporting “a contentious exchange” between “a visibly angry” Mr Qian and PIF secretary general, Baron Waqa.

Taiwan called China’s intervention “rude” and “unreasonable”. China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory.

Shortly after, Mr Qian spoke to journalists telling them this communique was “a surprising mistake”.

“Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan is not a dialogue partner of PIF, so China has representation on behalf of the whole China, including Taiwan and the mainland,” he said.

“This is a surprising mistake made by someone, I’m not sure, but it must be corrected," he said, when asked about communique.

“What we learned is there is clear opposition by membership that the Taiwan issue should not be discussed at this point.

“This should not be a final communique, there must be a correction on the text. We have already talked to the secretariat, to the [secretary-general] and some other delegations. ... We have received wide understanding and support.”

The communique was then removed from the forum’s website and a new document posted on Saturday morning with all references to Taiwan removed.

A spokesperson for the Pacific Islands Forum secretariat said on Sunday that the communique is a “consensus-based document”, and reflected the agreed decisions and views of all members.

“The version as finalised does not change nor impact the decisions of the meeting, nor any standing decisions of the forum leaders,” she said in a statement.

“The communique is a consensus-based document, reflecting the agreed decisions and views of all the Pacific Islands Forum.”

After the Taiwan references were removed, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday: “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 ministry added that the revised communique did not undermine Taiwan’s status at the forum nor preclude it from participating in the future.

Of the forum’s 18 members, only three have diplomatic ties to Taiwan while 15 recognise China. With China increasing development funding in the Pacific Islands, Taiwan has lost a few allies over the years.

Nauru broke off ties with Taiwan in January this year, while Kiribati and Solomon Islands did so in 2019.