Chinese delegates have caused ‘disgusting’ scenes after loudly disrupting a welcome ceremony at an international meeting hosted by Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop.
Witnesses at the Kimberley Process Intersessional meeting say the Chinese representatives shouted over the official Indigenous ceremony and caused one session to be suspended.
The group objected to the attendance of the Taiwanese delegation, who were later ejected from the Kimberley Process meeting at the request of the Chinese officials, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The anarchy kicked off as senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade official Robert Owen-Jones introduced the indigenous welcome ceremony and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, when the Chinese delegation took the microphone and loudly interjected.
The group were angry that the Taiwanese delegation were invited to the four-day meeting in Perth discussing the prevention of conflict diamond trading.
The Chinese officials said they had a point of order and demanded to know if everyone at the meeting had been ‘formally invited’, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
They refused to quieten down and let the ceremony or Ms Bishop’s speech proceed until their desired point of order was addressed as the first item on the agenda.
‘It was disgusting,’ an unnamed Australian attendee told The Sydney Morning Herald.
‘It was extraordinary, so uncalled for and so inappropriate, and so disrespectful.’
Later in the day it’s understood that a panel discussion with mining company executives was cancelled after it was continually disrupted by African delegations who supported the officials from China.
The Taiwanese delegation were later asked to leave.
China doesn’t recognise Taiwan’s independence as a nation and still regards the island nation as an illegally seceded state.
When both groups are in attendance at international events, organisers often refer to Taiwan as an ‘economy’ rather than a county, or call Taiwanese delegations ‘Chinese Taipei’ to avoid conflict.
More: Chinese invitees shout over Australian diplomats | Daily Mail Online
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