The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is closely following developments in Tuvalu after the election of a new prime minister, Kausea Natano, sparking concern that Taiwan might face another diplomatic crisis.
Tuvalu is one of the nation’s 16 remaining allies after the Solomon Islands switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing on Monday, ending 36 years of official ties.
Natano yesterday received 10 of 16 votes from the Tuvaluan parliament to replace Enele Sopoaga.
Photo: Chou Hsiang-yun, Taipei Times
The power change in Tuvalu “could give Beijing an opportunity to further isolate Taiwan,” a Reuters report said yesterday, citing analysts in the region.
The surprise change has lengthened the shadow over Taiwan’s standing in the South Pacific, the report said.
However, Ambassador to Tuvalu Marc Su (蘇仁崇) expressed confidence in Tuvalu, saying that Beijing had little influence in the Pacific nation after an unsuccessful attempt to court it just over a decade ago.
Photocopied by Peng Wan-hsin, Taipei Times
“You can feel they are trying to attract our diplomatic allies in every possible way,” Su told Reuters.
“This country is OK — there won’t be any effect,” Su said, adding that Taiwan had good relationships in Tuvalu from “grassroots to top level.”
Taiwan is to contribute US$7.06 million to Tuvalu’s budget for this year, according to budget documents, the report said.
Diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Tuvalu are stable, and Natano has maintained “close contact” with the Republic of China embassy, the ministry said.
Since the Solomon Islands’ diplomatic switch, several US officials have also expressed their support for Taiwan.
“We have repeatedly expressed our concern over China’s actions to bully Taiwan through economic coercion, squeezing Taiwan’s international space, and poaching diplomatic partners,” US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell told a US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on Wednesday.
“These actions undermine the cross-strait status quo, which has created peace and benefited both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait for decades,” he said.
Committee Chairman James Risch, ranking member Bob Menendez and other committee members also expressed their support at the hearing.
The ministry yesterday thanked the US lawmakers, saying Taiwan would continue to be a responsible member of the international community.
In other developments, US President Donald Trump announced his appointment of US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Robert O’Brien as his new national security advisor.
“I have worked long & hard with Robert,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
“He will do a great job!” Trump added.
O’Brien visited Taiwan in May 2016 and his position is “very friendly” toward Taiwan, the ministry said.
Taiwan and the US have maintained “close and smooth communication,” and continue to deepen their cooperation in the areas of politics, economy and security, it said.
The ministry hopes to, on the basis of the current “friendly and stable” Taiwan-US relations, to continue to work with the US to strengthen their partnership, it added.
NATURE TAKES ITS COURSE: The agency’s head said he felt a sense of loss watching red-banded snakes eat the babies, as they had decided on non-intervention The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday released a documentary on a hundred-pace viper that had incubated 16 eggs, all of which hatched, but only a baby viper escaped after they were attacked by red-banded snakes. The agency’s Taichung branch last year launched the viper reproduction monitoring project soon after forest rangers Lin Chun-yu (林俊佑) and Chou Chia-cheng (周家成) spotted a pregnant hundred-pace viper in a grass-covered burrow near a parking lot in Tbulan Village (松鶴部落). The Atayal village, in Taichung’s Heping District (和平), is headed by Ecyang Yapu, who was positive about the project and assisted in access control and power
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said that it had deployed vessels to “monitor” Chinese ships operating in waters off the east coast. The CGA said it dispatched vessels in response to a China Coast Guard announcement that it had carried out another “routine law-enforcement patrol” in waters off the east coast. “The CGA firmly rejects China’s cognitive warfare campaign of ‘law enforcement in name, jurisdictional expansion in practice,’” it said on X. As of 11am yesterday, two China Coast Guard ships were “loitering and drifting” about 105 nautical miles (195km) and 74 nautical miles east of Green Island (綠島) respectively, it said. It
The first two F-16V Block 70 jets Taiwan purchased from the US were spotted unexpectedly turning back after departing from Hawaii yesterday, potentially further delaying delivery of the aircraft. Taiwan has purchased 66 of the F-16 C/D Block 70 jets to be deployed at Chihhang Air Base (志航基地) in Taitung County and operated by the air force's 7th Tactical Fighter Wing to defend Taiwan’s eastern region. Two single-seat jets, bearing serial No. 6727 and 6728, were spotted taking off from Hickam Field in Hawaii yesterday, observers said. Based on the precedent set during the delivery of Taiwan's older F-16 Block 20s, the new
A sharp rise in compensation to be paid by air force officers who leave before completing their required service could indicate an increase in pilots leaving the military early, an analyst said on Friday, warning that the trend could worsen a shortage of experienced personnel. Chieh Chung (揭仲), a researcher at the Association for Strategic Foresight, issued the warning even though the number of volunteer military personnel is expected to increase next year. The planned headcount for volunteer military personnel, covering officers, noncommissioned officers (NCO) and enlisted soldiers, is 158,223 for next year, up 4,258 from 153,965 this year, Chieh said. The increase
RSS