When confronted by Taiwanese officials, the Chinese diplomats initiated a physical confrontation, leaving one staff member from the Taiwanese representative office in Fiji needing hospital treatment for a head injury, Tseng said. A ministry spokesperson told Bloomberg News by text that the injury was a “mild concussion.”“We strongly condemn the violence against our diplomat in Fiji by China’s uncivilized ‘wolf warriors,’” Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said on Twitter. The Chinese embassy in Fiji said in an earlier statement that a Chinese diplomat had been injured when staffers from the Taipei Trade Office in Fiji “acted provocatively,” and asked local police to investigate. “Our diplomats in Fiji have my full support.”Diplomatic BattlegroundThe incident in Fiji is particularly sensitive as the Pacific is one of the major battlegrounds for diplomatic influence between Beijing and Taipei. China has also steadily whittled away formal recognition of Taiwan in the international arena, leaving Taipei with just 15 official allies.

Source: Hindustan Times October 19, 2020 12:32 UTC