Two Chinese Defense Attaches Removed From Pacific Islands Forum Attended by Kamala Harris - Report

The Pacific Islands Forum is being held in Fiji's capital Suva on July 12-14.

Fiji police removed two Chinese defense attaches from the Pacific Islands Forum in the island nation's capital city of Suva while US Vice President Kamala Harris was giving a virtual address, according to The Guardian.

The attaches were identified by Lice Movono, a Fijian journalist who was working at the forum for The Guardian. Movono said she recognized him because she has interacted with him at least three times already, including during the visit of the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, to Suva in June.

“He was one of the people that was removing us from places and directing other people to remove us,” Movono said, as quoted by The Guardian. “So I went over to him and asked: ‘are you here as a Chinese embassy official or for Xinhua, because this is the media space. And he shook his head as if to indicate that he didn’t speak English.”

After recognizing the man, she warned protocol officers, who told her to inform Fijian police, who then accompanied the two men from the summit.

According to reports, the two men were later identified as defense attache and deputy defense attache from China.

The Pacific Islands Forum is taking place in Fiji on July 12-14. The forum was founded in 1971 and includes 18 members: Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.