Two Chinese defense attachés have been expelled by Fiji police from a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum at which U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was giving a virtual address.
The men were sitting at a forum fishing agency session in which Harris announced the increase in U.S. involvement in the region, which is believed to be in response to China’s growing influence.
They were sitting with the media contingent, but one was identified as a Chinese embassy official by Lice Movono, a Fiji journalist covering The Guardian forum.
Movono said he “recognized him because I have already interacted with him at least three times,” including during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Suva last month, in which reporters were removed from the events and blocked to ask questions. .
“She was one of the people who was taking us away from places and directing other people to eliminate us,” he said. “So I approached him and asked, ‘Are you here as an official at the Chinese embassy or for Xinhua.’ [Chinese news agency], because this is the media space. And he shook his head as if to indicate that he did not speak English.
Movono alerted Fiji protocol officers, who told him to alert Fiji police, who then escorted the two men out of the room. They did not answer questions from the media.
One of the Chinese officials is asked to leave the media area. Photography: William West / AFP / Getty Images
Diplomatic sources later confirmed that the men were a defense attaché and a deputy defense attaché from China and were part of the embassy in Fiji.
The incident comes after an intensification of Chinese participation in the region in recent months, which is being slowed down as an underground stream of the Pacific Islands Forum of the Year.
The rising pace of China’s participation has included the signing by China of a controversial and comprehensive security pact with the Solomon Islands and a marathon tour of the Pacific region by the Foreign Minister Chinese in which more than 50 agreements are believed to have been signed.
China is not part of the Pacific Islands Forum, but like the US it is a partner country. Associated nations are usually invited to attend a post-forum dialogue meeting, at which they can make presentations, but this year the dialogue with the partners will not take place during the week of the summit, in order to give air to the Pacific countries somewhat outside the intense geopolitical pressure.
It was believed that China would use the post-forum dialogue meeting to reintroduce a new version of the broad economic and security agreement it presented to 10 Pacific leaders last month, but which was rejected.
However, Harris was invited to virtually attend the forum, in what is seen as a big blow to the US and a blow to China, which has not received a similar honor.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris addresses the Pacific Islands Forum via a video link while Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong listens. Photography: William West / AFP / Getty Images
The United States has made a concerted effort to intensify its commitment to the Pacific in the light of Chinese interest, including the reopening of its embassy in the Solomon Islands, which was announced in February, in addition to a set of measures announced by Harris on Wednesday.
These measures include two new embassies, the appointment of a special presidential envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum and the tripling of the amount of money requested from the U.S. Congress for Economic Development and Ocean Resilience (up to 60 million dollars annually for 10 years), as well as a return of Peace Corps volunteers to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu.
Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama acknowledged the reactivation of the United States with the region, saying: “It is clear that the US is much more like the Pacific partner we have traditionally considered.”
In his virtual address to Pacific leaders Wednesday morning, Harris acknowledged the diplomatic gap the U.S. had left in recent years, saying, “We recognize that in recent years, the Pacific Islands may not have received the attention they deserve. and the diplomatic support you deserve. So today I am here to tell you directly: we will change that. “
He also seemed to take a look at China’s participation in the Pacific, talking about “bad actors” in the region.
“At a time when we see bad actors looking to undermine rule-based order, we need to stay united,” Harris said. “In this region and around the world, the United States believes it is important to strengthen the norm-based international order: to defend it, to promote it, and to build on it.
“These international rules and regulations have brought peace and stability to the Pacific for more than 75 years, principles that establish in an important way that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states must be respected; principles that allow all states, large and small, to carry their affairs free from aggression or coercion ”.