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Taiwan and China exchanged accusations on Monday over a physical confrontation between their diplomats at a reception in Fiji, and Beijing revealed that a cake helped fuel the controversy.
Taipei accused two Chinese officials of breaking into an event at the luxurious Grand Pacific Hotel in the Fijian capital Suva on October 8 and assaulting an employee.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that its trade office, its de facto embassy, was hosting a party for 100 distinguished guests to celebrate National Taiwan Day.
They claim that the two Chinese officials started taking pictures of the guests and when asked to leave, they assaulted an official and took him to the hospital.
“We strongly condemn the actions of the Chinese embassy staff in Fiji for grossly violating the rule of law and the civilized code of conduct,” said Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou.
China gave a different version of events.
The Beijing embassy in Fiji confirmed that its officials were in a “public area outside the venue” on unspecified “official duties” on the day of the incident.
But he claimed that the Taiwanese mission personnel “acted provocatively” and caused “injury and damage to a Chinese diplomat.”
In a briefing on Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry revealed that its officials were aware of details inside the function, including a cake with the Taiwanese flag.
“A false national flag was openly displayed at the venue, the cake was also marked with a false national flag,” spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters.
Taipei said police took the Chinese diplomats and “falsely claimed” that they had been attacked.
Both sides said they had asked the Fiji police and other island authorities to investigate.
A Fiji police spokeswoman told AFP the investigation was ongoing and officers were working with the Pacific nation’s Foreign Ministry. She declined to provide further details.
The Fijian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
China regards democratic Taiwan as a rogue province and has vowed to one day seize the autonomous island.
The altercation in Fiji comes at a time of great tension between the two sides, with Beijing increasing diplomatic and military pressure since the 2016 election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
Tsai comes from a party that sees Taiwan as a de facto sovereign nation and not as part of “one China.”
A senior White House official last week urged his government to develop military capabilities to guard against a possible invasion from China, and the pace of military activity in the area around Taiwan has increased markedly.
Taiwan’s defense depends on whether the United States will come to its aid.
That deliberately ambiguous commitment has been further challenged by President Donald Trump’s “America First” doctrine and his intermittent affection for Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
However, Trump has approved some large arms sales to Taiwan.
In recent years, Chinese diplomats have become more aggressive in pursuing Beijing’s interests abroad, a tactic that has been dubbed “wolf warrior diplomacy.”
On Monday, the ruling Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party said: “China’s ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ is indeed ‘hooligan diplomacy.’
Beijing has successfully hunted down seven of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies since 2016, leaving only 15 countries in the world that officially recognize the island.
Most are small nations from the Pacific and Latin America.
Fiji has long been a staunch ally of China and was the first Pacific island nation to forge diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1975.
aw-arb / jta / mtp
