Taiwan expressed gratitude to Tuvalu’s foreign minister on Monday for standing up for Taiwan at an UN conference. That’s after China blocked the attendance of three Taiwanese members of Tuvalu’s delegation. Tuvalu is one of 14 countries that have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
China is a member of the credentials committee of the UN Ocean Conference. The conference opened this year in Portugal on Monday. China asked the Tuvalu delegation to remove its Taiwanese members. Otherwise, it said it would revoke the entire Tuvaluan delegation’s credentials.
Tuvalu’s Foreign Minister Simon Kofe proceeded to remove himself from the conference in protest of China’s aggression.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry says it will continue to work with its diplomatic allies and like-minded countries to counter China’s inappropriate actions at the UN.
The three Taiwanese experts eventually withdrew themselves from the Tuvalu delegation.