Visiting Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano yesterday said his country would “stand firm to remain a lasting and loyal ally” of Taiwan.
Natano made the pledge at a ceremony in Taipei marking his first visit to Taiwan as prime minister since taking office in 2019.
At a military ceremony hosted by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in front of the Presidential Office Building, Natano said his visit was a “testament of our shared and genuine commitment to our long-standing friendship forged since 1979,” when the two nations established diplomatic relations.
Photo: CNA
“These 43 years ... will be a lasting, genuine, endurable partnership between us,” he said.
In times of uncertainty, his country continues to “stand firm in our commitment to remain a lasting and loyal ally of the ROC,” Natano said, using Taiwan’s official name, the Republic of China.
The cornerstone of bilateral ties is the shared principles of democracy, trust, human rights and individual freedoms, he said.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Natano also thanked Taiwan for the support it offered to his country over the past decades.
Tsai thanked Natano for the support Tuvalu has shown Taiwan on the international stage and for its “invaluable friendship.”
The two sides would exchange views on international development and issues of mutual interests during the visit, and discuss ways to further enhance ties, Tsai said.
During the military ceremony, Natano and a delegation of Tuvaluan officials were greeted with a 21-gun salute, followed by the playing of the national anthems of both countries.
Tsai and Natano then observed a parade of honor guards and military bands.
In the afternoon, Natano and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) signed a joint communique to reaffirm diplomatic relations ahead of the 43rd anniversary of the establishment of bilateral ties later this month.
The delegation would also sign two agreements on police and coast guard cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior and the Ocean Affairs Council respectively, as well as a memorandum of understanding with Kaohsiung-based National Sun Yat-sen University on education and maritime research, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The delegation arrived on Saturday and is to depart on Friday.
Tuvalu is one of 14 UN member states that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Taipei lost two Pacific allies to Beijing in 2019: the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands have remained with Taipei.
Additional reporting by Reuters
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS