A cake with a Taiwan flag triggered an exchange of punches between China and Taiwan government officials, reports say.
China and Taiwan officials engaged in a boxing match in Fiji during an event at a luxury hotel in celebration of Taiwan's National Day earlier this month.
The incident took place in the face of deepening frictions between Beijing and Taipei over Taiwan's global stature, and as the two countries contend for economic and political influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
China and Taiwan traded barbs Monday over a physical showdown between their public figures at a reception in Fiji - with Beijing claiming that a cake helped fuel the fisticuff, BBC News reported.
According to Taiwan's foreign ministry officials, two Chinese diplomats barged into the celebration and "harassed" their guests. The confrontation turned violent, resulting in a Taiwanese diplomat suffering a head injury when he tried to pacify the fight. The Chinese officials were reportedly ushered out of the event by the police.
China gave a different account of what happened. It claimed that the Taiwanese mission's staff "acted provocatively" and caused injuries to one of their diplomats. Chinese and Taiwanese officials said they had asked the Fijian police to investigate. Fijian authorities made no comment in an ongoing investigation.
China's foreign ministry said in a Monday briefing that its officials knew what was transpiring from inside the function, including a cake that featured a Taiwanese flag - something that offended Beijing, which described the flag representation as false because China doesn't recognize Taiwan as a nation, the Telegraph disclosed.
Fiji has long been a staunch ally of China and was the first Pacific island state to form a diplomatic partnership with Beijing in 1975.
China considers Taiwan as a rogue province and has vowed to one day take control of the self-governed territory.
