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Chinese Officials Told to Leave Pacific Summit – Guardian

Police in Fiji escorted two Chinese defence officials out of a Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Suva on Tuesday, when the US Vice President Kamala Harris was giving a virtual address


US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks via a video screen to the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji, July 12, 2022. Photo: Kirsty Needham, Reuters.

 

Fijian police asked two Chinese defence officials to leave a Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) meeting in Suva on Tuesday, when the US Vice President Kamala Harris was giving a video address, according to a report by The Guardian, after a local journalist questioned why they were sitting in a section reserved for the media.

China and the United States are treated as partner countries by the PIF, but such dialogue was limited this year “to give Pacific countries some breathing room” after China’s foreign minister arrived for a major tour through the region recently, the report said. Harris told island leaders the US would set up new embassies in Kiribati and Tonga and triple the amount of aid to $60 million a year over the next decade – news that was welcomed by Fijian PM Frank Bainimarama.

Read the full report: The Guardian.

 

 

 

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Jim Pollard

Jim Pollard is an Australian journalist based in Thailand since 1999. He worked for News Ltd papers in Sydney, Perth, London and Melbourne before travelling through SE Asia in the late 90s. He was a senior editor at The Nation for 17+ years.