Taipei to join PIF leaders’ meeting

Taiwan is to 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 are important partners to the region, a Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) official told reporters late on 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. Foreign ministers and top diplomats of Pacific Islands countries attend a Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Suva, Fiji, on Friday. Photo: AFP Palau, host of the Aug. 30-to-Sept. 4 meeting, as well as Tuvalu and