![\"Marshall](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/57ce13e5c502ac0f61af8956a302b68f5c435850.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n\u201cWe support the continued attendance of all PIF partners, including Taiwan, at the annual PIF Leaders Meeting, as previously agreed by PIF leaders in 1992.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Taiwan\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged the PIF to \u201cmaintain its existing arrangements\u201d and allow for its participation as a \u201cdevelopment partner\u201d, Taiwanese news agency CNA reported. Taiwan in the past has attended the PIF informally to participate in side events, but it has not taken part in the main leaders\u2019 meetings.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s embassy did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Solomon Islands opposition party politician Peter Kenilorea Jr, the chairman of the parliament\u2019s foreign relations committee, said the prime minister\u2019s decision was \u201ca massive missed opportunity\u201d for Pacific Islands countries to meet global donors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know this issue is all about China and Taiwan,\u201d Kenilorea told parliament.<\/p>\n
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Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine.Credit: AP<\/p>\n
After forum leaders were told of the decision, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine criticised interference in the forum\u2019s affairs in a speech to her country\u2019s parliament.<\/p>\n
China had \u201cinterfered\u201d at last year\u2019s meeting in Tonga to change the language of the leaders\u2019 communique, Heine said. References to Taiwan were removed<\/a> after Chinese diplomats complained.<\/p>\n The Pacific Islands is among the world\u2019s most aid-reliant regions, and on the front line of rising sea levels<\/a>. The region has also been a focus of increasing security competition between the United States and China.<\/p>\n