The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed disappointment over the Pacific Islands Forum’s (PIF) decision to bar Taiwan and all donor partners from this year’s leaders’ meeting.
“It is understandable yet regrettable” that the Solomon Islands, the host of this year’s forum, decided to invite only PIF member countries, the ministry said in a statement.
However, the ministry acknowledged that there have been precedents in which only PIF members attended the annual summit, and this year’s exclusion was not directed solely at Taiwan, as more than 20 donor partners — including the US and China — have also been excluded from the meeting scheduled for next month.
Photo: AFP
Even so, the ministry urged the PIF to uphold its 1992 agreement granting all partners, including Taiwan, the right to attend the annual leaders’ meeting.
The PIF’s decision followed a lengthy debate at a PIF foreign ministers’ meeting in Fiji on Thursday, where ministers ultimately upheld the Solomon Islands’ move to exclude donor nations.
Tongan Minister of Foreign Affairs Crown Prince Tupouto’a ‘Ulukalala told reporters there had been a “robust discussion.”
“We will engage more closely with partners in the months to come as the region progresses its reform on the partnership mechanism,” New Zealand’s RNZ quoted him as saying.
Earlier this month, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele told his country’s parliament that donor countries would not be invited to this year’s PIF summit.
Only the bloc’s 18 members, including Australia and New Zealand, would take part in the 54th PIF Leaders Meeting, scheduled for Sept. 25 in Honiara, Manele told the parliament.
Manele cited an ongoing review of the bloc’s external partnerships as the reason for limiting attendance. However, opposition politician Peter Kenilorea Jr said the decision was “all about China and Taiwan,” Reuters reported.
Speculation over Taiwan’s exclusion has circulated since last year, with reports that the Solomon Islands — which switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019 and is hosting this year’s summit — was acting under pressure from China.
Beijing has approached several of Taiwan’s Pacific allies over the past few years as it seeks to expand its influence in the region and isolate Taipei diplomatically.
Responding to the reports, Chinese Ambassador to New Zealand Wang Xiaolong (王小龍) wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday that Beijing was not responsible.
“To suggest that we have worked to exclude ourselves for the dialogue in the Solomons this coming September just does not stack up,” he wrote.
He said that Taiwan “does not belong” at the meeting and reiterated Beijing’s “one China” principle that sees Taiwan as part of its territory.
Of the PIF’s 18 members, only the Marshall Islands, Palau and Tuvalu maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Taipei has participated as a partner since 1993 and has contributed donations to the bloc over the years.
The US, another PIF partner, expressed disappointment last week over the Solomon Islands’ decision to bar Taiwan and other “dialogue and development partners” from next month’s meeting.
“All [forum] partners, and that includes Taiwan, should be invited to participate ... regardless of where it is hosted — just as countries that maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan invite all dialogue partners, including China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
ANOTHER OPTION: The 13-year-old, whose residency status was revoked for holding a Chinese passport, could still apply for residency on humanitarian grounds, the government said The Executive Yuan has rejected an appeal from a 13-year-old Chinese student surnamed Lu (陸), whose permanent residency was revoked after immigration officers discovered he held a Chinese passport. Lu in December 2023 applied to settle in Taiwan to be with his mother, surnamed Lin (林), who is a Taiwan resident, an appeal decision released this month by the Executive Yuan showed. Lin settled in Taiwan after marrying a Taiwanese man in 2003, but the two divorced in 2011, and after marrying a Chinese man, she had Lu, the Executive Yuan’s appeals committee said. Lu’s application was approved in December 2024, and in
RSS