Fiji prime minister cancels China visit after ‘small accident’
Sydney: Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said he was forced to cancel an official visit to China after enduring a minor head injury that required him to stay at home.
The visit was announced earlier on Tuesday by the Chinese embassy in Fiji, which said Rabuka would attend the opening of the World University Games in Chengdu, alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Prime Minister of Fiji Sitiveni Rabuka.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Rabuka, elected in December, said on Tuesday he had been forced to cancel the visit after tripping on the stairs while looking at this phone, resulting in an injury to his head.
“I’ve just come back from the hospital where I had a dressing put on my head for a small accident I had this morning,” Rabuka said in a video message uploaded to Facebook, pointing to small blood splatters on his business shirt.
“I have had to inform China I will not be able to undertake the trip that was coming up tomorrow night,” he continued, adding he hoped to accept future invitations to the country.
Rabuka’s visit was planned as China ramps up its push for security and trade ties with the Pacific Islands to compete with the United States and its allies.
Rabuka has previously said he was reviewing a police cooperation agreement with China, signed a decade ago by the former government.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed a policing deal with China during a visit to the nation earlier this month, building on a security pact struck last year.
Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said on Tuesday Sogavare had reassured him during a visit to the country that Australia remains the Solomon Island’s “primary security partner”.
“Every single Pacific leader agreed that security should be driven by the Pacific, that if any country in the Pacific has a gap in their security, they should ask other members of the Pacific family to fill it first,” Conroy told reporters.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the tiny kingdom of Tonga on Wednesday, as the United States continues to increase its diplomatic efforts in the Pacific while China’s influence in the region grows.
Tonga last year was the site of a massive volcanic eruption that sent millions of tons of water vapor into the atmosphere and killed four people in Tonga.
Blinken’s visit helped highlight the opening of a new US Embassy in Tonga and the return of Peace Corps volunteers following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Tonga’s War Memorial in Nuku’alofa, Tonga.Credit: AP
Blinken met with Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and other officials to discuss the bilateral relationship as well as regional and global issues, said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
“Secretary Blinken outlined how the United States is following through on commitments made by President Biden at last year’s historic summit with Pacific Islands leaders to elevate our diplomatic and development presence and engagement in the region,” Miller said in a statement.
Miller said the visit also highlighted US efforts to tackle the Pacific climate crisis, including by expanding early warning systems.
Blinken next travels to New Zealand, where on Thursday he will meet with officials and watch the women’s World Cup soccer match between the US and the Netherlands. He then travels to Brisbane, Australia, for meetings with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Australian counterparts.
Reuters, AP
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