SYDNEY, Aug 8, 2026 (Net) – Taiwan will attend an annual gathering of Pacific Island leaders in Palau this month, the regional bloc said, overcoming protests from China that saw Taipei barred from the event last year.
China and Taiwan were important partners to the region, a Pacific Islands Forum official told reporters late Friday, after ministers from 18 member states met in Fiji to thrash out priorities.
“Taiwan is a very important development partner. It is not a dialogue partner, however it engages with members of our forum family,” Baron Waqa, the forum’s secretary-general, told a news conference.
Palau, host of the August 30 to September 4 meeting, as well as Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, are among Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic partners.
China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and opposes the self-governed island’s participation in inter-national organisations and exchanges with other countries.
Forum members Nauru, Kiribati and Solomon Islands have all switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing since 2019.
Solomon Islands, the host of last year’s leaders meeting, blocked Taiwan from attending, resulting in all external countries being disinvited to the meeting, despite the island states’ reliance on foreign aid and investment.
“This year it is an open invitation,” said Rick Hou, foreign minister in the Solomon Islands government that took office in May and has swiftly repaired ties with the United States, Japan and Australia.
A joint statement condemning China’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Pacific last month was still being negotiated, Waqa said, confirming Nauru and Kiribati had held different positions to oth-er forum members.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Friday accused two states he did not name of appeas-ing “outsiders”, after the meeting failed to agree to the statement.
