NAURU DEMANDS CHINA APOLOGIZE FOR ENVOY’S DISRESPECTING PACIFIC FORUM
WELLINGTON/SYDNEY— The tiny Micronesian state of Nauru demanded on Thursday that China formally apologize after its envoy’s disrespect during the Pacific Islands Forum.
But China said it was Nauru, one of the world’s smallest countries, that should be saying sorry.
Nauru, an island country of roughly 12,000 inhabitants, hosted leaders of 18 Pacific nations, plus delegations from nonmember countries, including the United States and China, for the forum.
Improper protocol
The spat occurred when the head of the Chinese delegation, diplomat Du Qiwen, demanded to be allowed to speak before the Prime Minister of Tuvalu on Tuesday, which Nauru’s President Baron Waqa rejected as improper protocol.
Waqa described China’s envoy as “very insolent” and a “bully” for speaking out of turn.
Nauru and Tuvalu are two of six Pacific countries to have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which is a source of tension with China, which regards Taiwan a wayward province, to be taken back by force if necessary.
During a media conference that followed the leaders’ meeting at the forum late on Wednesday, Nauru’s president was asked whether he would seek a formal apology from China over its envoy’s behaviour.
“Wewill go further than that, I tell you we won’t just seek an apology, we will actually get the forum to do it ... as well as our own, and we will even take it up to the UN,” Waqa said.
“Never mind they are big, they are our partners, they should not disrespect us,” he added.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Nauru was to blame for the drama.
“I think the Nauru President you’re taking about is probably very happy about becoming a focus of public opinion,” she told a daily news briefing.
‘Opposite of the facts’
“What Nauru said is diametrically the opposite of the facts. It has totally confused right and wrong, and they have made bogus accusations,” Hua added.
“It’s actually the Nauru side who should reflect and apologize,” she said, implying that Taiwan was behind the fracas.—