President William Lai (賴清德) arrived in the Pacific nation of Tuvalu today, where the two nations signed a joint communique on advancing their partnership.
Lai's day trip to Tuvalu came just ahead of a stopover in the US territory of Guam.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Earlier, he was in the Marshall Islands where President Hilda Heine expressed her government's commitment to "remain a staunch ally" of Taiwan.
Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands are among 12 nations that still recognize Taiwan diplomatically.
Lai smiled and waved as he stepped off the plane in Tuvalu, where he was greeted by Prime Minister Feleti Teo, Governor General Tofiga Vaevalu Falani, schoolchildren, an honor guard, and a traditional song and dance performance.
"When I disembarked and saw Tuvaluan students waving the national flags of our two countries, I strongly felt the people's firm commitment to our diplomatic alliance," Lai said through a translator.
Looking relaxed in a colorful shirt and a garland of pink and yellow flowers around his neck, Lai said he hoped Taiwan and Tuvalu can "expand our cooperation to even more areas, thereby further strengthening our diplomatic partnership."
In a speech, Teo expressed "Tuvalu's thanks for Taiwan's contribution" to a pool of funds used by the government to buy a submarine Internet cable, as well as its financial support for climate action.
In a joint communique on "advancing the comprehensive partnership" signed during Lai's visit, Taiwan and Tuvalu agreed to "reassess the ongoing bilateral cooperation projects in order to establish a more durable, lasting and mutually beneficial diplomatic relations."
Teo was named prime minister in February, a month after an election that put the nation's recognition of Taiwan in question.
During the election campaign, senior lawmaker Seve Paeniu had floated the idea that Tuvalu's new government could review its Taiwan ties.
That set off frenzied speculation about a looming shift in policy, but the new government has vowed to keep up its "special" relationship with Taiwan.
China has dramatically ramped up its efforts to gain influence across the Pacific islands in recent years, lavishing small nation states with loans, investment, security aid and other enticements.
Beijing has already poached some of Taiwan's Pacific allies, convincing Solomon Islands and Kiribati to switch recognition in 2019.
Neighboring Nauru severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in January, just days after Lai won the presidential election.
Lai is to wrap up his week-long trip on Friday with a visit to ally Palau.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
RSS