Taiwan says senior Fijian UN diplomat visited, despite Fiji’s formal ties with China

TAIPEI/SYDNEY - Taiwan said it welcomed a senior Fijian diplomat this week who met Vice-President Hsiao Bi-khim, a highly unusual trip, given that the Pacific island state has formal relations with only Beijing, which decries any international exchanges with Taipei.

Taiwan’s presidential office said late on Nov 5 that Mr Filipo Tarakinikini, Fiji’s permanent representative to the United Nations – of which Taiwan is not a member – had met Ms Hsiao as part of a delegation of other UN ambassadors, including from the Marshall Islands and Paraguay, which are Taiwanese allies.

Ms Hsiao expressed “heartfelt thanks to the permanent representatives, as friends of Taiwan, for their longstanding support and assistance, which have helped Taiwan play a meaningful role in the international system, especially within the United Nations system”, the office cited her as saying.

Mr Tarakinikini also met and had dinner with Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung, the Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement.

Mr Tarakinikini, Fiji’s Foreign Ministry and China’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and strongly objects to any diplomatic interactions with Taipei, especially by countries with which Beijing has official relations.

Taiwan says it has a right to engage with other countries, and rejects Beijing’s territorial claims. China says Taiwan is merely one of its provinces.

In July, Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said his country was

opposed to China setting up a military base

in the Pacific Islands, adding that it did not need such a base to project power, as shown by an intercontinental ballistic missile test in 2024 in the region.

Strategically placed between the United States and Asia, the Pacific Islands are a focus of rivalry between Washington and Beijing for security ties.

Of the 12 countries with formal ties to Taiwan, three are Pacific islands states – Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.

Taiwan does, however, maintain a de facto embassy in Fiji.

In 2020, it said one of its diplomats was hospitalised in Fiji after two Chinese diplomats attempted to enter a reception and gather information on attendees.

China denied the account.

In 2005, then Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian visited Fiji on a transit stop during a Pacific tour, though he did not meet government officials. REUTERS