Taipei [Taiwan], September 5 : The US has condemned China's demand for the removal of a Taiwan reference from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) communique, calling it an attempt to limit Taiwan's international presence.
On Wednesday, a US government spokesperson highlighted Beijing's ongoing efforts to limit Taiwan's international presence, Focus Taiwan reported.
The PIF, an intergovernmental organization consisting of 18 member countries, convened its 53rd summit in Tonga last week. Although Taiwan was not a formal participant, it has been actively engaged as a "development partner" with the forum since 1993.
The Pacific Islands Forum a group of 18 island nations, plus Australia and New Zealand initially included a reassertion of the standing of self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, in a public communique Friday outlining leaders' agreements after their weeklong annual meeting.
Taiwan's involvement has been recognized and reaffirmed in various PIF communications, notably in the 1992 PIF Leaders' Communique, with subsequent affirmations in 1999 and 2010. The summit concluded on August 30, and the PIF initially published a joint statement that included a reaffirmation of the established arrangements concerning Taiwan.
The original communique included a statement in paragraph 66, which read: "Leaders at the forum reaffirmed the 1992 Leaders' decision on relations with Taiwan/Republic of China." However, the communique was removed from the PIF website later that evening, only to be republished the next day with paragraph 66 removed, reported Focus Taiwan.
Before this change, New Zealand media reported that during the summit, PIF Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown had assured China's Ambassador to the Pacific, Qian Bo, with the comment, "We'll remove it," regarding the reference to Taiwan.
Qian Bo remarked to journalists that the mention of Taiwan "must be a mistake" and needed correction. Shortly after, the document was updated to exclude the reference to Taiwan. In response to the incident, a US State Department spokesperson confirmed in an email that the US has been monitoring reports about changes to the PIF communique and the removal of references to Taiwan, reported Focus Taiwan.
This episode underscores the ongoing geopolitical struggle over Taiwan, rooted in the Chinese Civil War. The conflict began in 1949 when the Communist Party established the People's Republic of China (PRC) on the mainland, while the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan, continuing to assert sovereignty over all of China.
The tumultuous conclusion to the annual summit, where member nations stressed regional unity and resisted great powers' attempts to exert influence, highlights the daunting challenge faced by some of the world's smallest countries as they navigate the competing demands of larger nations that view them as strategic pawns in the global geopolitical landscape.
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