The Foreign Ministry says that most of the recently elected legislators in Tuvalu who may become prime minister are friendly towards Taiwan. Tuvalu, one of Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic allies, held its parliamentary elections on January 26. The elected members of parliament will soon meet to choose a new prime minister for the small Pacific island nation.
Taiwanese observers have been closely watching the outcome of Tuvalu’s election after the country’s Finance Minister and MP Seve Paeniu said the bilateral relationship should be “reviewed” by the new government. This raised concerns as another former diplomatic ally in the Pacific, Nauru, switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing on January 15.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that most of the currently elected MPs in Tuvalu have had frequent interactions with the Taiwan Embassy and maintain a friendly stance towards Taiwan. They add that Taiwan will continue to deepen relations with all the new members of parliament and strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
The spokesperson was also asked about recent reports of Chinese warships clashing with Japanese fishing vessels near the disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyutai in Taiwan. The spokesman says that Chinese ships near the islands have caused regional instability, and called for all disputes in the area to be resolved peacefully and rationally. The spokesman also reiterated Taiwan’s position that the islands are the sovereign territory of Taiwan and that no unilateral claims or actions can change this fact.
Japan, Taiwan, and China all claim the islands as their territory.