Via the AFR:
China has accused the United States of spoiling the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit by attending with “great anger”. However, it says it will not oppose Australia’s partnership with the US to redevelop Papua New Guina’s naval base at Manus Island.
Reiterating calls by Chinese leaders for Australia and other countries to work with it on regional infrastructure and security in the Pacific, the ministry said it would not try to persuade PNG that a new military base built by Australia and the United States was not a good idea.
“We don’t have that dark side as you suspected,” the spokesperson said. “China adopts an open attitude to regional countries developing normal relations and cooperation.
In other words, the dark side is upon us and China will do everything it can to prevent the Manus Island base going ahead.
Here’s how Bloomberg reported the APEC outcome:
A U.S. official familiar with the talks said China balked at some language related to trade. At issue was a pledge by the governments to fight “all” unfair practices, which China objected to including in the statement, said the official, who asked not to be identified as the discussions were private. The 20 other nations endorsed the language, the official said.
…The tensions reportedly boiled over as summit host Papua New Guinea tried to draft the communique. Agence France-Presse news agency said that Chinese officials attempted to “barge” into the office of the country’s foreign minister to influence the document. Chinese officials denied the report, which said police had to be called.
So who’s the “spoiler” here?
