Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) is to attend the inauguration of Marshallese President Hilda Heine on Monday next week as a special envoy of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), just days after another Pacific ally severed ties with Taiwan.
Tien’s delegation departed yesterday afternoon and is to return on Tuesday next week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
During his stay in the Marshall Islands, one of Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies that are UN member states, Tien is to meet with Heine, who was sworn in on Jan. 3, as well as Marshallese Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kalani Kaneko, Legislative Speaker Brenson Wase and other top officials to discuss cooperation projects, it said.
Photo: CNA
Congratulating Heine and her new government, the ministry said that Taiwan would continue to work with the Marshall Islands on food security, healthcare, basic infrastructure, climate change adaptation and women’s empowerment.
It would also seek to deepen the bilateral partnership and jointly safeguard peace, stability and prosperity in the Pacific region, the statement said.
Heine was elected president on Jan. 2 by a 17-16 margin over former president David Kabua, who ousted Heine from the presidency in 2020, after her previous stint that began in 2016, by a 20-12 vote with one abstention.
In the Marshall Islands, presidents are chosen by the country’s 33-member legislature, who are elected through a popular vote.
Tien’s visit to the Marshall Islands came two days after Taiwan lost another ally in the region.
Nauru, about 1,000km southwest of the Marshall Islands, on Monday announced that it was severing ties with Taiwan to recognize the People’s Republic of China.
That left Taiwan with 12 UN-recognized allies worldwide, including the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau in the Pacific region.
Following Nauru’s decision to switch recognition, the Marshall Islands’ embassy in Taiwan wrote on Facebook that it values Taiwan as a “key partner in the promotion of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”
“The people of Taiwan have a right to self-government and to participate as an invaluable member of the international community of nations and the RMI [The Republic of the Marshall Islands] reaffirms its commitment to diplomatic relations with the ROC” (the Republic of China), it said in the post.
Tuvalu and Palau also pledged to stick with Taiwan.
The severing of ties between Taiwan and Nauru came two days after Vice President William Lai (賴清德) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected president.
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