The sudden defection of the Marshall Islands speaker to the opposition ahead of national elections has fueled speculation in the central Pacific nation about its ties with Taiwan.
Two days ahead of tomorrow's vote, Speaker Litokwa Tomeing said the Marshall Islands had "wronged" China by recognizing Taiwan in 1998 and that it was time to "fix this problem by adopting a one-China policy."
The Marshall Islands, with a population of 60,000, is one of 24 countries that recognize Taiwan.
Tomeing had been the Marshall Islands' parliamentary speaker for eight years since the United Democratic Party (UDP) of President Kessai Note won control of the government from former president and paramount chief Imata Kabua.
However, when he defected a week ago, saying the UDP had not lived up to its promises of reform, he reduced the UDP to just a two-vote majority going into tomorrow's elections.
Tomeing's push for a rollback to diplomatic ties with China follows his trip to Beijing last week and a trip by four leading opposition members of parliament to China last month.
The opposition group included Senator Tony deBrum, the architect of the Marshalls' shift to Taiwan in 1998 when he was finance minister in a previous government.
DeBrum has declined detailed comment about the reasons for his China visit, saying only that it was a "fact finding visit" and that he would address the issue after the election.
The Marshall Islands' business community strongly supports ties with Taiwan in large part because Taiwanese funding goes directly to hiring local construction contractors and their workers and therefore circulates money in the economy.
"I want to thank the Republic of China for all that it's done for the people of the Marshall Islands," Chamber of Commerce president Jack Niedenthal told business leaders this week. "If I listed all of the projects that Taiwan has assisted with over the past nine years, I'd be talking for an hour."
Taiwan's large-scale aid has become an integral part of the Marshalls' budget, and Taipei is the Marshalls' second-largest aid donor behind the US, providing US$10 million in direct grants annually as well as assisting with several other projects.
Whether the election will bring any change to this arrangement will not be known for nearly two months.
The election result in the former US territory cannot be confirmed until after Dec. 3, when postal absentee ballots are to be counted, and the president will not be elected until the incoming parliament is formed in the first week of January.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (
"Taiwan remains on good terms with the Marshalls' political parties," Yeh said.
Based on the information passed on by the ministry's officials in Marshall, Yeh said the ruling party is still expected to win a majority in the parliament.
However, Yeh said the ministry will continue to closely monitor the situation.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS