Australia and New Zealand have issued support for the Pacific Islands Forum after China called in Pacific ambassadors to complain about their decision to include Taiwan at the summit last month.
Beijing had pushed to exclude the island from the regional gathering.
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Both New Zealand and Australia are showing increasingly public signs of frustration about the way China has heaped pressure on Pacific nations over Taiwan, arguing that it risked splintering PIF unity, and distracting the region from critical development challenges.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters took a thinly veiled swipe at China when Solomon Islands decided to exclude all partners from this year's PIF leaders meeting, saying "outsiders" were determining who the Pacific could invite as guests.
A spokesperson for New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade would not say exactly when or where China lodged its complaints over this year's communique, but suggested Beijing had no right to remonstrate with Pacific nations over Taiwan.
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A spokesperson for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also did not provide any details about the diplomatic complaints China had lodged.
But they also delivered a clear message to Beijing, saying Australia "encourages China to engage with the PIF and its members in a manner that promotes regional unity".
"This includes working through and respecting regional institutions and norms, including the PIF's decisions with respect to engaging Taiwan," they said.
"Australia has made its position clear, including directly to China."
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