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Pacific leaders gathered in Tonga on Friday rejected Beijing-backed calls to sever ties with Taiwan, saying the regional alliance would maintain decades-old policies, AFP reported.
As a result, Pacific Islands Forum members have rejected calls from some of China’s allies to stop viewing Taiwan as a development partner.
In a final statement, the leaders “reaffirmed” a 1992 agreement authorizing talks with Taipei.
China has worked to exclude the democratic island from international forums and rejects its claims to autonomy.
China’s main partner in the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands, has pushed to strip Taiwan of its Pacific Islands Forum partnership, angering some of Taipei’s allies.
The alliance is divided between countries that have diplomatic relations with Beijing and others that have ties with Taipei. Besides Tuvalu, only Palau and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific recognize Taiwan.
Taiwan has sent Vice Foreign Minister Tian Zhongguang to Tonga in an effort to strengthen ties with its dwindling Pacific island ally.
Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Peter Agovaka, who was discouraged by Beijing’s overtures and severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019, appeared to have not softened his stance, telling AFP a review of the regional bloc’s policies should ensure member states had a “sovereign state”.
The Solomon Islands will host the Pacific Islands Forum in 2025.
The South Pacific region was once considered a bastion for countries that recognized Taiwan, but China has methodically reduced that support.
In the past five years, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru have severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Palau is set to hold an election this year, with its relationship with Taiwan and a possible pivot toward China among the themes dominating the campaign.
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