The Guardian-Pacific Islands Forum communique taken down after Chinese envoy calls Taiwan reference unacceptable
August 30, 2024 3 min 537 words
西方媒体的这篇报道主要描述了一次 戏剧性 的太平洋领导人峰会，中国特使要求删除关于台湾的措辞，最终公报删除了相关段落。评论如下： 西方媒体的这篇报道带有明显的偏见，试图营造一种中国强硬外交和霸道形象。报道中，中国特使钱波被描述为 显然很愤怒，并 要求 改正台湾 发展伙伴 的称谓。然而，报道没有客观介绍台湾问题的历史背景和中国对台湾的领土主张，没有提到中国在这一问题上的合理关切。此外，报道也没有提到中国出席峰会是作为 对话伙伴，这一身份本身就表明中国不是太平洋岛屿论坛成员，其意见不代表该组织观点。报道将中国特使的合理表达曲解为 愤怒 和 要求，是偏激和不公正的。公报的修改也许体现了太平洋岛屿论坛对中国立场的尊重，但报道却故意忽略这一点，试图营造一种中国 干预 和 施压 的印象。这种带有偏见的报道不利于西方世界对中国外交立场的正确理解，也无助于中国与太平洋岛国之间的友好关系。
A summit of Pacific leaders has ended in drama after China’s regional envoy demanded the scrapping of language about Taiwan, with the communique later republished without the offending paragraph.
The Pacific Islands Forum (Pif) summit in Tonga this week brought together Australia, New Zealand and 16 Pacific island countries or territories, only three of which still have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
China is not a member of the regional grouping, but – like the US and numerous other major countries – attends some of the Pif events as a “dialogue partner”.
For more than 30 years, Taiwan has been afforded the lesser status of “development partner”, a situation that irks Beijing, which claims the self-governed democracy as its territory.
Solomon Islands, which has fostered increasingly warm ties with Beijing since switching diplomatic recognition from Taiwan in 2019, had raised concerns in the lead-up to this week’s summit about Taiwan’s status.
But the final communique published on the Pif website on Friday rebuffed any push for change and stood by existing arrangements.
“Leaders reaffirmed the 1992 Leaders decision on relations with Taiwan/Republic of China,” it said.
China’s special envoy for the Pacific, Qian Bo, called for changes to the communique.
Nikkei Asia reported that it saw a “visibly angry” Qian confront the Pif secretary general, Baron Waqa, immediately after the closing news conference and that he called the statement “unacceptable”.
Qian later told reporters in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, that it was “a surprising mistake made by someone” and it “must be corrected”.
He reiterated Beijing’s position that China should be seen as the representative “on behalf of the whole China, including Taiwan and the mainland”, Nikkei Asia reported.
The Guardian has seen and verified a copy of the final communique that appeared on the Pif website earlier on Friday. It included a line reaffirming the decades-long arrangements regarding Taiwan.
But as of Friday evening local time, this communique was no longer easily accessible on the website.
The communique was republished on the Pif website on Saturday morning local time, but with paragraph 66 about Taiwan no longer included.
A paragraph about Solomon Islands being the host of next year’s Pif was moved up to become the new paragraph 66.
The Guardian has sought comment from the Pif secretariat.
Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, Tien Chung-kwang, also travelled to Nuku’alofa this week. Tien held talks with Taiwan’s three remaining Pacific allies, Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.
China’s foreign ministry said on Friday: “Any attempt by the Taiwan authorities to brush up their sense of presence by rubbing shoulders with the forum can only be self-deceptive.”
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had previously played down the prospect of any attempt to change Taiwan’s status within Pif structures.
When asked about the matter on Thursday morning, prior to the leaders’ retreat, Albanese said: “Well, that hasn’t been discussed at all. We support all the existing arrangements.”
Additional reporting by Reuters