Taiwan, China trade accusations after staffers fight in Fiji

TIL Desk/World/Taipei/ China and Taiwan traded accusations Monday over a violent altercation that broke out between Chinese diplomats and Taiwan government employees at a recent Taiwan National Day reception in Fiji.

Both China and Taiwan confirmed the Oct. 8 incident but each disputed the other’s claim of what precipitated the fight, which resulted in one Taiwanese staffer being sent to a hospital with a head injury. One of the Chinese diplomats also was injured.

The confrontation, an extreme example of the tensions between the rival governments, erupted when Taiwanese at the gathering tried to stop Chinese diplomats from taking photos of guests at the reception marking Taiwan’s national day and disrupting the event, according to a statement from Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry.