Pacific Standoff: China's 'Consequences' Threat Meets Australia's Pushback as AUKUS Turns Five

China's special envoy for Pacific affairs, Qian Bo, dropped a diplomatic grenade at the Pacific Islands Forum on Monday, warning there "will always be consequences" for Taiwan's attendance at the summit in Palau. Speaking after the opening ceremony, Qian called Taiwan's presence "very inappropriate" — a remarkably confrontational statement delivered on the soil of a nation of just 18,000 people that China has been trying to diplomatically...