China missile test top of agenda as Pacific diplomats meet in Fiji

China's recent test of a nuclear-capable missile and its wider influence in the Pacific dominates the agenda as the region's top diplomats meet for an annual confab in Fiji on Friday.

Beijing gave Pacific nations just a few hours' notice before test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile last month, flexing its military might in a region where it has long sought to expand its reach.

The launch sparked condemnation from several key players including Australia and New Zealand but the multilateral Pacific Islands Forum is yet to draft a formal response to the test.

China-friendly nations Kiribati, Nauru and Vanuatu are understood to have little interest in criticising one of their major partners.

A watered-down formal response may come from Friday's meeting in Fiji capital Suva, highlighting the need for regional security but without mentioning the test, or China.

New Zealand's outspoken Foreign Minister Winston Peters told journalists before the talks that "we're going to be having an open dialogue here today".

"In the end, though, we'll see whether logic prevails in this debate, or whether the debate has already been settled by people having a predetermined position from which they will not move," he added.

The meeting of foreign ministers comes ahead of a full leaders' meeting in Palau in September.

Palau is one of the few nations on Earth to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

Diplomats also plan Friday to discuss which key partners should be allowed to attend that meeting.

- 'Common course' -

Last year, the Solomon Islands banned all partner nations from attending the leaders' meeting in Honiara at the request of China, which was concerned with the possible involvement of Taiwan.

Wellington's top diplomat Peters warned Friday "there's always a tendency for outsiders to meddle" in the Pacific.

Peters -- who leads the populist NZ First party back home -- last week drew the ire of Beijing's embassy and members of his own government when he told a China-born lawmaker to "go back to your own country".

He has described this year's confab as "timely" given the impact of global events on the region -- a nod to the missile test as well as a fuel squeeze caused by the war in the Middle East.

He has said the Pacific must "chart a common course".

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said she hopes the region can come out of the meeting stronger.

"We want a region which is able to deal with the very large challenges which we know we are experiencing," she said.