TAIPEI/SYDNEY – Taiwan stated it welcomed a senior Fijian diplomat this week who met with Vice-President Hsiao Bi-khim, a highly unusual trip given the Pacific island state only has formal relations with Beijing, which decries any international exmodifys with Taipei.
Taiwan’s presidential office stated late on Nov 5 that Mr Filipo Tarakinikini, Fiji’s permanent representative to the United Nations – of which Taiwan is not a member – had met Ms Hsiao as part of a delegation of other UN ambassadors, including from the Marshal Islands and Paraguay which are Taiwanese allies.
Ms Hsiao expressed “heartfelt thanks to the permanent representatives, as frifinishs of Taiwan, for their longstanding support and assistance, which have supported Taiwan play a meaningful role in the international system, especially within the United Nations system,” the office cited her as stateing.
Mr Tarakinikini also met and had dinner with Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung, the foreign minisattempt stated in a separate statement.
Mr Tarakinikini, Fiji’s foreign minisattempt and China’s foreign minisattempt did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and strongly objects to any diplomatic interactions with Taipei, especially by countries with which Beijing has official relations.
Taiwan states it has a right to engage with other countries, and rejects Beijing’s territorial claims. China states Taiwan is merely one of its provinces.
In July, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka stated his counattempt was
opposed to China setting up a military base
in the Pacific Islands, adding that it did not required such a base to project power, as displayn by an intercontinental ballistic missile test in 2024 in the region.
Strategically placed between the United States and Asia, the Pacific Islands are a focus of rivalry between Washington and Beijing for security ties.
Of the 12 countries with formal ties to Taiwan, three are Pacific islands states – Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshal Islands.
Taiwan does, however, maintain a de facto embassy in Fiji.
In 2020, it stated one of its diplomats was hospitalised in Fiji after two Chinese diplomats attempted to enter a reception and gather information on attfinishees.
China denied the account.
In 2005, then-Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian visited Fiji on a transit stop during a Pacific tour, though he did not meet with government officials. REUTERS
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