Fiji prime minister cancels China go to after tripping whereas taking a look at cell phone

Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has stated he was compelled to cancel an official go to to China after falling and hurting his head.

The go to had been introduced on Tuesday by the Chinese language embassy in Fiji, which stated Rabuka would attend the opening of the World College Video games in Chengdu alongside the Chinese language president, Xi Jinping.

Rabuka, elected in December, stated he had been compelled to cancel the go to after tripping on the steps whereas taking a look at this telephone, leading to an damage to his head.

“I’ve simply come again from the hospital the place I had a dressing placed on my head for a small accident I had this morning,” Rabuka stated in a video message uploaded to Fb, pointing to small blood splatters on his enterprise shirt.

“I’ve needed to inform China I will be unable to undertake the journey that was developing tomorrow evening,” he continued, including he hoped to simply accept future invites.

Rabuka’s go to was deliberate as China ramps up its push for safety and commerce ties with the Pacific Islands to compete with the US and its allies.

Rabuka beforehand stated he was reviewing a police cooperation settlement with China, signed a decade in the past by the previous authorities.

The Solomon Islands’ prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, signed a policing deal on a go to to China this month, constructing on a safety pact struck in 2022.

Australia’s Pacific minister Pat Conroy stated on Tuesday that Sogavare had reassured him Australia stays Solomon Islands’ “major safety accomplice”.

“Each single Pacific chief agreed that safety needs to be pushed by the Pacific, that if any nation within the Pacific has a niche of their safety, they need to ask different members of the Pacific household to fill it first,” Conroy stated.