A Tuvaluan prime ministerial candidate and the country’s departing prime minister on Wednesday expressed their support for continued diplomatic ties with Taiwan, after recent warnings that relations could be severed.
“The issue of the relationship between Tuvalu and Taiwan, under me, will not be a problem,” Enele Sopoaga, who won re-election to the country’s parliament on Friday last week, told Central News Agency (CNA) in a video interview.
“You can read my lips. Yes. I will not make even the slightest change. There is no need even to look at that issue right now,” said Sopoaga, who previously served as prime minister from 2013 to 2019.
Photo: CNA
Sopoaga’s comments came after Tuvaluam Ambassador to Taiwan Bikenibeu Paeniu was cited in a Weekend Australianarticle on Jan. 19 as saying “sources from Tuvalu” had told him the country could follow Nauru and switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing after Tuvalu’s general election on Friday last week.
Paeniu, who is also a former Tuvaluan prime minister, called on Australia and its allies and partners to closely watch the situation and to step up their support for his nation.
Additionally, Tuvaluan Minister of Finance Seve Paeniu, who has retained his parliamentary seat and is also a contender for the country’s leadership, told Reuters after the election that Tuvalu’s ties with Taiwan “need to be debated and reviewed in the new parliament.”
The warnings prompted concerns that Taiwan might be dealt another diplomatic blow in the Pacific region, after Nauru announced on Jan. 15 that it was severing ties with Taipei to recognize Beijing.
Nauru’s move, which came less than two days after Vice President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won Taiwan’s presidential election, left Taiwan with 12 UN-recognized allies, including the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau in the Pacific region.
Sopoaga said he was taken by surprise that the comments, which he called “calculated,” came from the highest level of governance.
The two countries cooperate well in the areas of national development, education, climate change and medical support schemes facilitated by Taiwan, Sopoaga said, adding that if elected prime minister, he would maintain recognition of Taiwan.
Any concern about Tuvalu-Taiwan relations “is a nonissue,” Sopoaga said.
Sopoaga said he could not believe that Tuvalu’s ambassador in Taiwan was speaking about the possibility of the country following a “one China” policy.
“I think this is bullshit. As far as I’m concerned, there is no ‘one China’ policy,” Sopoaga said.
Sopoaga described the “one China” policy as “propaganda” employed “by the other side” and not a term found in any resolution adopted by the UN.
Meanwhile, departing Tuvaluan Prime Minister Kausea Natano said he was optimistic about future Taiwan-Tuvalu ties.
The idea of switching diplomatic recognition is based on the assumption Tuvalu would get more financial support from China, which Natano, who lost his seat in parliament during the latest election, described as a “myth.”
Natano also said he was confident that a majority of the newly elected parliamentarians are supportive of Taiwan-Tuvalu diplomatic links, established in 1979.
Natano added that he believed that a new prime minister would maintain Tuvalu’s current stance.
Tuvalu has no political parties, and the 16 newly elected parliamentary members, who all ran as independents, will engage in negotiations before the largest group forms a government and elects a prime minister.
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
Taiwan’s growing defense preparations might be sending a stronger signal to the US than to Beijing, highlighting the need for Taipei to tailor its deterrence efforts to different audiences, a US security academic said yesterday. Stanford University Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies fellow Oriana Skylar Mastro made the comment during a Taipei Security Dialogue panel examining lessons Taiwan could draw from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Mastro said she was impressed by Taiwan’s increased defense spending, emphasis on asymmetric capabilities and efforts to prepare society for conflict, but questioned whom those initiatives were influencing. She said when she asked
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
Potential improvements to munitions used by China’s long-range rocket-artillery units could extend their range to cover the entire Miyako Strait, which might give the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) the ability to secure the strategic waterway, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in a report. The PLA’s long-range rocket-artillery units deployed along the Taiwan Strait are concentrated along the coast of Fujian Province, including Changle, Pingtan and Shishi, the quarterly report on China said. The artillery brigades of the PLA’s 71st, 72nd and 73rd group armies have been deployed, with preparations for potential battlefield operations under way since August 2022, the report
RSS