Update Aug. 31, 1:10 p.m.

On Saturday (Aug. 31) a new version of the statement was uploaded to the Pacific Islands Forum website with the reference to Taiwan removed.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A statement affirming support for Taiwan’s participation in the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) was removed from the forum’s website hours after a reportedly angry Chinese envoy confronted the organization's secretary-general over its wording.

The communique was issued in Tonga on Friday (Aug. 30) and posted to the forum’s website, according to The Guardian. It “reaffirmed the 1992 Leaders decision on relations with Taiwan/Republic of China," which gave Taiwan development partner status in the forum.

By Friday evening, the statement was no longer available on the PIF website. The webpage that contained links to download the statement remained visible.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry referred Taiwan News to the PIF Secretariat when asked if it was aware of why the statement was removed. The secretariat did not respond by press time.

Nikkei reported that China’s envoy to the Pacific Qian Bo (錢波) was “visibly angry” when he told PIF Secretary-General Baron Waqa that the statement was “unacceptable“ immediately after it was announced. Qian then told reporters the statement needed to be corrected.

“Taiwan is not a dialogue partner of PIF, so China has representation on behalf of the whole of China, including Taiwan and the mainland," Qian said. Asked about the inclusion of Taiwan in the statement, he said "it must be a mistake."

The statement followed a report by the Australian before the forum began that said China had asked the Solomon Islands to oppose Taiwan’s participation. On Thursday, the Prime Ministers of Australia and New Zealand both said they support the forum’s existing arrangements regarding membership.p