《TAIPEI TIMES》 Ministry plays up Tuvalu ties after envoy’s warning

DIPLOMATIC ALLIES: Tuvaluan officials and politicians offered reassurances to president-elect William Lai that ties would remain strong, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said

/ Staff writer, with CNA

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Taiwan cherishes its diplomatic ties with Tuvalu and is willing to continue to enhance relations with the Pacific ally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.

The reaffirmation of the Taipei-Funafuti alliance came amid an envoy’s warning that the island nation could soon follow Nauru’s decision earlier this month to ditch Taipei for Beijing.

In a news article published on Friday last week by the Weekend Australian, Tuvaluan Ambassador to Taiwan Bikenibeu Paeniu said “sources from Tuvalu” had told him that his country could follow Nauru and switch its diplomatic recognition to Beijing after its election on Friday.

The 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.

The ministry reaffirmed Taiwan’s strong bilateral cooperation with Tuvalu in various areas, including agriculture and fisheries, medicine and healthcare, information and communications, clean energy, and education and cultural exchanges, since the two countries established diplomatic links in 1979.

The ministry said that after Vice President William Lai （賴清德） of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party was elected president on Jan. 13, Tuvaluan senior officials and politicians across party lines issued congratulatory messages to Lai, while offering reassurances that Tuvalu-Taiwan ties would remain strong.

The list included Governor-General Tofiga Falani, Prime Minister Kausea Natano, and Speaker of Parliament Samuelu Penitala Teo, the ministry added.

Taipei would continue to cherish the countries’ solid friendship and seek to bolster bilateral cooperation on various fronts based on the shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law, the ministry said.

Nauru announced on Monday last week that it was severing ties with Taiwan to recognize the People’s Republic of China.

That left Taiwan with 12 UN-recognized allies, including the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau in the Pacific region.

In a report by The Australian, Paeniu also said that Beijing had been highly active in Tuvalu since the latter’s last election in late 2019.

Several Chinese companies had offered to help the Pacific island nation — which is facing a risk of being submerged in the coming decades as sea levels rise — with a US$400 million artificial island establishment project, the envoy said.

The Chinese offer was rebuffed, but sources in Taipei told the Weekend Australian that a similar proposal has been made again in the lead-up to the election on Friday.

Following Nauru’s decision last week, the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau all pledged to stick with Taiwan, the ministry said.

The severing of ties between Taiwan and Nauru came two days after Lai was elected president. The ministry had accused China of plotting to poach Taiwan’s diplomatic ally as part of a calculated “assault on democracy.”

Nauru was the 10th diplomatic ally Taipei has lost to Beijing since President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） took office in May 2016.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES