Praise and boos for McKinnon

Don McKinnon stunned a packed press conference of more than 40 Foreign and Trade Ministers last night by shutting down questions from Taiwanese journalists.

Taiwanese officials booed from the dress circle of the Aotea Centre when Mr McKinnon put his foot down after a series of questions about why Taiwan cannot join the World Trade Organisation.

Chinese journalists then applauded when the adjudicator moved to the next question.

Mr McKinnon told a reporter: "I have attended now nine Apec meetings. They are becoming more and more dominated in the press conference by journalists from Chinese Taipei.

"We don't need a constant run of questions from Chinese Taipei."

The Taiwanese ministers appeared shocked.

Mr McKinnon brought the press conference to an abrupt end after only 45 minutes when Taiwanese reporters continued to put questions on the same subject.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is a body of economies, not countries, so is one of the few international forums that Taiwan attends.

China claims Taiwan as part of China but Taiwan has been asserting its independence in recent years.