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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