The leader of the Pacific island nation of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka, has abruptly cancelled a trip to China after he said he tripped and injured himself while looking at his cellphone.
Prime Minister Rabuka, wearing a blood-spattered shirt and a small bandage on his head, announced on Tuesday that he had fallen down some stairs and would call off the visit.
“I do not know whether my head is hurt more than the door, or the door is hurt more than my head,” he said in the video. “I’m sure there will be other invitations later on and I hope I will be able to honor that invitation.”
Rabuka said he had an appointment on Friday to review the injury and change the dressing, which clashed with events scheduled in China.
The Fijian leader had planned to attend the opening of the World University Games in Chengdu, where he would have met President Xi Jinping. The visit would have occurred as Beijing increasingly asserts its dominance in the region, and amid heightened Beijing-Washington tensions.
While Beijing and Washington are competing for influence in the Pacific, Rabuka, elected prime minister in December, has demonstrated more skepticism toward Beijing than some of his predecessors.
He ended a decade-long policing agreement with China at the beginning of 2023 and moved to sign agreements with U.S. allies, including Australia and New Zealand.
Rabuka also declined to meet with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu while Ma was visiting Fiji in April.
China has meanwhile made gains elsewhere in the region, signing a deal on police cooperation with the Solomon Islands on July 14 while its Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was visiting Beijing.
In an interview with FBC News, Rabuka said Fiji is not trying to distance itself from China, but the country needs to ensure “those who are cooperating with us have our same values.”
The Chinese embassy in Fiji said on Twitter that its ambassador Zhou Jian wished Rabuka “a speedy recovery” and was “willing to invite him to visit China at mutual convenience.”
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
