Taiwan hit back Tuesday at China's objections to its presence at a Pacific islands summit, saying its role in the region stops China from "having full control".
The 18-member Pacific Islands Forum is being hosted by Palau, which invited its diplomatic ally Taiwan to attend sideline events as an aid partner, along with China and other non-Pacific countries.
China's Pacific envoy Qian Bo told reporters on Monday there would be "consequences" after Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung joined the opening ceremony in Palau.
Beijing claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory.
"We have made our position very clear to the government of Palau and to Secretariat," Qian told reporters after the ceremony on Monday.
"There will always be consequences. We all know this is objective by all. This should not have happened," he added.
Lin responded Tuesday, saying Taiwan has participated in the summit for several decades, including the opening ceremony.
Taiwan was a significant donor to the Pacific, even as its diplomatic allies dwindled to just three of the 18 forum members.
"We should not make compromises just because of China bullying," Lin told reporters.
China's security presence in the Pacific Islands had grown since Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nauru switched ties from Taiwan to Beijing, he said.
"China is having substantive influence over certain countries in the Pacific region," he said, pointing to the forum's inability to agree to a joint statement condemning last month's Chinese missile test.
"Wherever there is Taiwan's presence, China will have a difficult time having full control over the area," he said.
Chinese officials have warned Pacific leaders and ministers not to attend side events in Palau at which Taiwan is participating, a Pacific source at the meeting told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Asked on Tuesday about Lin's presence at the summit, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry said that Taiwan "is not qualified to participate in the forum's activities in any capacity".
"Authorities in Taiwan have sent independence separatists such as Lin Chia-lung to make sneaky visits and curry favour everywhere in a futile attempt to attract attention," Guo Jiakun said at a regular news conference in Beijing.
"This is primarily a gathering of Pacific family," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told journalists when asked about the Chinese comments.
"The Pacific Islands Forum determines what happens here, not any other country."
Albanese also rejected China's warning to travellers that tourism-dependent Palau was unsafe.
"This is a paradise here in Palau," he said.
Representatives of Australia, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands said the absences of five leaders who have instead sent lower-ranked ministers would not affect the meeting's outcomes.
The Pacific summit is seeking to take joint action on drug crime and climate change.
"From time to time the Pacific Islands Forum has had issues with people not participating -- everyone is participating at this forum," Albanese said.
Taiwan is among a long list of aid partners invited to the Pacific meeting along with China, Singapore, Japan, Britain and the United States, which has brought a large delegation.
"Our partners are welcome to sail with us, but they do not choose our destination," Palau's President Surangel Whipps said at the opening ceremony Monday, urging Pacific unity.
Among the topics on the table is China's test launch in July of a ballistic missile that landed in the Pacific Ocean near Taiwan-ally Tuvalu.
"That is not acceptable; it is not the act of a friend," Albanese said.
Closer security ties among Pacific islands will also be discussed, despite the abrupt departure Monday of its proponent, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale, to deal with a brewing political crisis at home.
Wale has sought to build closer ties with Australia and the United States since his election in May, putting a secretive security pact with China under review.
He is expected to face a no-confidence motion in parliament next week, after a split in the governing coalition.
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