Participants at an intergovernmental meeting hosted by Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop in Perth have described "disgusting" and "extraordinary" scenes as the Chinese government delegation shouted over the welcome to country ceremony and forced the suspension of proceedings.
A Taiwanese delegation was later ejected from the Kimberley Process meeting at the behest of the Chinese delegates who objected to their attendance.
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China delegates 'disgusting' behaviour at Perth forum
Meeting abandoned, introductions interrupted and Taiwan delegates asked to leave a Kimberley Process meeting attended by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed it had raised concerns over the incident with the Chinese ambassador.
Participants at the Kimberley Process intersessional meeting have described extraordinary scenes as the Chinese delegation noisily disrupted the official Indigenous welcome ceremony and forced the suspension of at least one other session on Monday.
Members from the delegation used the microphone at their table to speak over the chairman of the meeting, senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official Robert Owen-Jones, as he tried to introduce the foreign minister Julie Bishop and the Indigenous welcome ceremony, attendees said.
The Chinese delegation said they had a point of order and demanded to know if everyone in the room had been "formally invited".
The interruptions continued until the agenda was changed to address the so-called "point of order" as the first item. Only then was the welcome to country permitted to go ahead, followed by Ms Bishop's speech.
"It was disgusting," said one high-level Australian attendee who asked that their name not be used. "It was extraordinary, so uncalled for and so inappropriate, and so disrespectful."
Fairfax Media understands that another session later in the morning involving a panel discussion with executives from mining companies was abandoned altogether because of continual interruptions by various African delegations in support of the Chinese position.
Backroom negotiations between the Chinese and the Australian parties ensued, then the Taiwanese delegation was asked to leave. The conference program resumed.
KP's guests (delegates from Taiwan) left the intersessional meeting paving way for resumption of the programme
— bruce chahwanda (@brucezbc) May 1, 2017
The Kimberley Process is an international meeting first convened in 2000 aimed at stopping the trade in conflict diamonds and to prevent the diamond trade from funding violence by insurgent movements.
Taiwan was granted observer status in 2007.
This is the first time Australia has chaired the four-day intersessional meeting.
China shocking act of disrespect to Aust Govt in presence of minister of foreign affairs disrupting opening of Kimberley process
— Rami Baron (@RamiBaron) May 1, 2017
A spokeswoman for DFAT said Australia had invited the Rough Diamond Trading Entity of Chinese Taipei to attend the Kimberley Process in Perth as a guest of the Chair, "in line with earlier precedent". She said the invitation was consistent with Australia's One China policy.
"The chair had to withdraw the invitation to the Taiwanese following objections from China and several other delegations to the former's presence during the opening session, in order to enable the meeting to continue.
"Continual disruption to the proceedings in the opening session was regrettable and the Australian government's concerns with respect to the behaviour of Chinese delegates have been raised with the Chinese ambassador."
Because China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that will eventually return to the motherland, Taiwanese attendance at international forums has become a proxy battleground over Taiwan's nation status.
Official Taiwanese presence at international forums is usually restricted to observer status as "Chinese Taipei" or, as the 18th largest economy in the world by GDP, Taiwan is sometimes invited as an "economy" rather than a nation.
A spokesman for the Chinese consulate general in Perth said: "The head of the Chinese delegation expressed high respect for the traditional owners of the land and the welcome to country at the opening session of the Kimberley Process Intersessional Meeting 2017."
He said there were clear rules and procedures regarding the meeting and that the invitation to the Taiwan entity had been withdrawn "after consultations".
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